CII. XXXII. SALMO FEROX — PIKE. 189 



" Salmo ferox " of ten pounds weight to kill more 

 trout in a week than a pike of the same size would 

 do in a month. I never killed a tolerably large 

 trout without finding within him the remains of other 

 trout, sometimes too of a size that must have cost 

 him some trouble to swallow. In fact, I am strongly 

 of opinion that pike deserve encouragement in all 

 larse Hi(:?hland lakes where the trout are numerous 

 and small. There is also no doubt that trout follow 

 up the lex talionis, and feeil on the young pike as 

 freely as pike feed on young trout. 



There are numberless fine lakes in the interior 

 of the northern counties, situated in wild and seques- 

 tered spots remote from roads and tracks, the waters 

 of which are seldom or never troubled by the line 

 of the angler. During my search for the breeding 

 places of the osprey and other rare birds in the 

 north of Sutherland, I have come upon lakes situated 

 in those rugged wildernesses, and frequently high 

 upon the mountains, where I am confident no human 

 being ever practised the " gentle craft." The only 

 enemies that the trout have in these lonely lochs 

 are the otters who live on their banks, or the osprey 

 who builds her nest on some rocky islet, safely 

 encircled by the cold depths of the surrounding 

 waters. 



There is also in many of these lakes plenty or 



