304 SALMON AND TROUT. 



some ten minutes it struck me as odd that I had not seen any 

 of the tubs carried past the window. Jumping up and calling 

 to the rest to follow me I ran to the cart— not a minute too 

 soon. Half the fish — and all the large ones — had already 

 sickened and were gasping side up. We hurried them in hot 

 haste down to the water, and the fresh stream just saved theii 

 lives, one fish only proving past recovery. Five minutes more 

 of still water, and the whole cargo would have been lost ; as it 

 was, the introduction of those trout restored the breed which 

 had become almost extinct in that fine reach of the river. 



They were turned in, if I remember, about the end of 

 August, after a season during which I could only hear of three 

 trout killed by fair angling from Marlow Weir to Spade Oak. 

 In the fourth season after, I took some forty myself, though 

 hardly visiting the river twice a week. 



I have told this story at some length to illustrate the necessity 

 of keeping the water aerated by motion when stock trout are 

 being transported ; but it may point another moral, viz. that it is 

 desirable to use sizeable fish for restocking exhausted streams. 



Let me add here, that I am by no means fanciful about 

 stocking water, whether pool or stream, with what is called a 

 ' fine breed ' of trout. Such a breed results from centuries, 

 perhaps, of superior feeding, and trout of such a race, if removed 

 to waters where the dietary is less generous, will be apt to 

 ' dwindle, peak and pine,' or at best will lose their distinctive 

 superiority. On the other hand, fish taken from a hungry 

 water and turned into one where the bill of fare is more liberal 

 cannot fail to thrive. I have seen many notable instances 

 where tiny brook fish, which at home would never have exceeded 

 four or five ounces in weight, have been removed into a large 

 sheet of deep water, and have there become large and good — 

 worthy of an angler's respect and affection, I will mention two 

 examples. On a high moorland beside Lartington Hall, on the 

 borders of county Durham, runs a small burn— the same which, 

 after gathering its dark peat- stained waters, plunges down 

 romantic Deepdale to join the Tees above Barnard Castle; 



