14 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 
how Shakespeare described his Antiquary, and 
has not the author of “JZ go a-fishing” taught 
us that there is much in common between the 
angler and the antiquary? How shall we look 
at the trout; how review his history; and how, 
further, forge some description of that ‘cold, 
sweet, silvery life, wrapped in round waves, and 
quickened with touches of transporting fear”? 
Others have begun at the beginning. 
Of late years it has been our duty to patiently 
watch and study the fish on their spawning-beds ; 
and if ever trout-streams are more interesting 
than when the March-brown and the May-fly are 
“on,” surely itis now. Look where we will, the 
fish are heading up-stream to their spawning- 
grounds. The salmon leaves the teeming seas, and 
the trout his river reaches, for the tributaries. 
At this time, the fish glide through the deep water 
with as much eagerness as they rushed down the 
same river as silvery samlets or tiny trout. 
Maybe they will stay at some well-remembered 
pool; but the first frosts remind them that they 
must seck the shallower waters. A brown spate 
rolling down is another potent reminder, as they 
know that by its aid rocks and weirs will be 
more easily crossed. If their accustomed water- 
ways are of solid foam, they get up easily ; but soft 
spray gives them little hold, We must surmount 
