JVAYS OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. 165 



after my fish was firmly hooked. Then they told 

 me I had lost him in the weeds, just to tease me ; 

 and when I had got him out, I put him in the skirt 

 of my old-fashioned gaberdine and bolted off — too 

 happy to sleep for hours that night because I had 

 caught and landed a good perch. 



Concerning trout, I feel inclined to say but little, 

 for the ablest pens have written so much about them 

 that I am on ticklish ground. Of the different 

 varieties of the common brook-trout I will not speak, 

 because I have seen such differently shaped trout, 

 and ones so variously coloured, taken from the same 

 stream within one short half-mile of one another. I 

 once saw six trout, all half-pounders, and some of 

 them larger, captured one evening at the very height 

 of the season under an old bridge. Not one brace 

 was alike : each fish differed more or less from the 

 other. These were the common trout of the brook ; 

 no cross had ever been introduced into that water 

 to make hybrids of them. The man who caught 

 them told me that, a mile and a half lower down, 

 there was a greater difference still. I visited the 

 latter spot, and found he was correct. Some were 

 quite silvery, others were inclined to a golden-brown 



