24 TROUT FISHING 



lure, whether it be an impaled minnow or 

 an artificial bait, looks like a creature 

 which is dying or in distress : in the first 

 case it really is so. Many wild animals 

 have an instinct to kill the weaker 

 brethren. That is why, for example, the 

 ailing sheep leaves the fiock and hides 

 itself : it would be killed if it did not go 

 away. May not the same instinct govern 

 the actions of fish ? My belief that it 

 does seems borne out by the fact, familiar 

 to anglers, that a small trout which is 

 hooked is not unlikely to be seized by a 

 large one. The large one passes all the 

 small fish which are fit and free in order 

 to kill the one whose unwonted motions 

 show it to be in distress. 



After having upset accepted under- 

 standings about the salmon, Sir Herbert 

 Maxwell made experiments among the 

 trout, and then published heretical specu- 

 lations. He had some artificial Ma)rflies 

 dyed red, and some dyed scarlet ; cast 

 them upon streams, such as the Mimram, 

 the trout in which are spoken of as having 



