214 SALMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



the redness of the flesli appears to be caused by the diet of the fish, and that 

 fresh--water shrimps, Oammari, are one of its causes, such does not seem to be 

 always the case. In the stream Chum, passing Cowley and Colesbourne, an affluent 

 of the Gloucestershire Colne, there are quantities of these Gammari, but the flesh 

 of the trout is white, and it is not until they near the Colne that they get a 

 slight pinkish tinge, yet all are equally good. T. Medwin, Angler in Wales, 

 remarked that " trout which feed on leeches cut up red." 



A correspondent of Land and Water, June 14th, 1884, observed that " hitherto 

 it was a very exceptional thing to take any other than white fleshed trout (above 

 Totnes weir) : now, however, that the dapping season has commenced the large 

 fish in the deep water above the Totnes weir have been taken in considerable 

 numbers : similar sized fish were last year all white-fleshed trout, but now a large 

 proportion of them are pink. I consider this is caused by the fish feeding in 

 the tidal waters below Totnes weir on shrimps and other salt-water food, and 

 they are able by means of the fish pass to get up again to the fresh water which 

 formerly they could not do except in floods, and then rarely."* 



The month at which trout get into condition is a question that is of consider- 

 able interest to the angler as well as to the housekeeper. In the southern riversf 

 which are rapid, of no very great size, and descend from hills, the small and 

 resident trout generally afi'ord sport to the angler as early as March and April, J 

 possibly these small forms rapidly mend subsequent to the breeding period. But 



* At a meeting of the Scotch Fisheries Improvement Association in 1884, a letter was read from 

 Mr. Harvie-Brown respecting some experiments regarding the colours of fish, observing that: 

 " The subject of colouration of flesh of trout is a much more intricate one than at first appears. 

 I know of trout holding largely developed spawn in June and July in a loch in Sutherland whose 

 flesh is not pink only, but bright red, like a salmon's, and yet they are not fit to be eaten. I 

 know, also, in a limestone bum the very finest trout, which on the table are perfectly white in the 

 flesh, whatever size they grow to ; but in another limestone burn from the same source, or nearly 

 EO, the trout are quite different in appearance externally, but ectually white in flesh and equally 

 delicious for eating. I put a J lb. trout, along with others, into a previously barren loch, in two 

 years some of these trout attained to 4i lb. weight, developed huge fins and square or rounded 

 tails, lost all spots, took on a coat of dark slime, grew huge teeth, and became feroces in that 

 short time. The common burn trout, taken from a very high rooky burn up in the hills, in two 

 years became indistinguishable from Salmo ferox. The first year they grew to about 1 lb. or 

 1 J lb., took on a bright silvery sheen of scales, were deep and high shouldered, lusty and powerful, 

 more resembling Loohleveu trout than any others. This was when their feeding and condition 

 was at its best ; but as food decreased, and they rapidly increased in number, spawning in 

 innumerable quantities, and with no enemies, the larger fish began to prey on the smaller, grew 

 big teeth, swam deep, and lost colour, grew large fins and a big head, and became Salmo ferox 

 so-called. In two years more the food supply became exhausted, and now the chain of lochs holds 

 nothing but huge, lanky, kelty-looking fish and swarms of diminutive ' black nebs,' neither of the 

 sorts deserving of the angler's notice. The first year they were splendid fish— rich and fat. Now 

 they are dry and tasteless." 



t Eespecting early trouting around Exmoor the following appeared in The Meld :—" Mild 

 weather being granted — a condition not uncommonly conspicuously wanting — the angler cannot 

 get to work upon the moorland streams too early after February 1st. The fish being always in 

 season, so to speak, always on the feed, are eager to accept such lures as the March brown, 

 February red, blue dun, blue upright, or anything in red, brown, or rusty with gilt twist, or blue 

 with silver twist." On January 29th, 1887, J. D. B. wrote saying that " trout fishing in North 

 Devon begins February 18th," and E. N., Field, February 12th, 1887, replied, " I have always 

 maintained that this is at least a month too early. Trout fishing should not legaDy begin till 

 March 1st, and no one with any regard for his fishery should allow it till April 1st. To-day, 

 February 5th, I caught a trout 15 in. long, 1 lb. 4J oz., with the milt rurming from him, and 

 within two yards of the spot was a newly made redd. On dissecting him I found about two-thirds 

 of his milt remaining, and in his stomach a minnow. Now, it is a well-known fact that the 

 colder the water and climate the earlier the trout spawn; but I do not think that they vary much 

 in their time in any district. The bulk spawn at the end of December and beginning of January ; 

 the earliest I ever knew were November 13th, and the latest the first week in March." J. D. B. 

 answered February 19th, " W. C, writing last week from Exeter, says that some few trout have 

 been taken in capital condition. E. N. has the mistaken idea that the cold weather acts upon 

 the spawning of the trout. Now, if we had summer weather all through the winter, they would 

 have to spawn when their natural time came. Everything has its times and seasons. Trout 

 spawn mostly in the Devon streams the latter end of November and beginning of December. 

 1 believe that holds good for every county in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales." 



J As early as February in some Cardiganshire and Montgomeryshire streams. 



