46 TROUT FISHING 



subject to moods which are explicably 

 referable to definite conditions. 



If they will not rise on a day which 

 seems in all respects perfect, we sup- 

 pose they are sulking causelessly, and 

 go home without further thought about 

 the matter. That is treating the trout 

 with scant respect. It is not the way 

 in which we treat cattle, whose moods 

 and attitudes are so definitely deter- 

 mined by atmospherical conditions that 

 the skilled observer in the pastures 

 can actually foretell the weather. We 

 forget that, by the action of steam 

 on the carbonates of lime and magnesia, 

 carbonic -acid gas is constantly being 

 generated under the surface of the earth ; 

 that, although most of it escapes into 

 the outer atmosphere, much of the 

 enervating influence frequently rests in 

 still waters ; and that, therefore, far from 

 being less in need of vitalising oxygen 

 than the animals of the land and the air, 

 the trout in many places are normally 

 more in need. May it be that when 



