LOCHMABEN. 



23 



cal &h, about seven or eight inches long, not at all unlike a 

 herring, only not so brilliant in colour; and that the females 

 of the vendace seem to be about a third more numerous than 

 the males — a characteristic which is also observed ia the sal- 

 mon family. The vendace spawn about the beginning of 





LOCHMABEN. 



The home of the Vendace. 



winter, and for this purpose gather, like the herring, into 

 shoals. They are very productive, and the young do not take 

 long to grow to maturity. 



The specialties of the Lochleven trout may be chiefly 

 ascribed to a peculiar feeding-ground. Feeding I believe to be 

 everything, whether the subjects operated on be cattle, capons, 

 or carps. The land-locked bays of Scotland afford richer 

 flavoured fish than the wider expanses of water, where the 

 finny tribe, it may be, are much more numerous, but have not 

 the same quantity or variety of food, and, as a consequence, 

 the fish obtained in such places are comparatively poor both in 

 size and flavour. Nothing can be more certain than that a 

 given expanse of water will feed only a certain number of fish ; 

 if there be more than the feeding-ground will support they will 



