104 PHYSOSTOMI. 



Each (Northumberland) also rach-rider, a small trout : Shot (Westmoreland) . 

 Breac-precht, Highlands of Scotland. Alevin, fry before it commences to feed by 

 the mouth. Sceo ta, Anglo-Saxon, a "shooter" or "darter:" also iruht. Triotht 

 is an old mode of spelling the name of this fish. 



De forel, Dutch. Truite, French. 



Habits. — Bold, voracious, cunning and shy, it possesses keen sight, while it 

 dreads anything novel it may observe. In some of our streams which are 

 constantly fished it appears to have become almost insensible to the charms of the 

 artificial fly, while, should it have been hooked, it would seem to remember the 

 circumstance. When an outlying fish is disturbed it dashes away and seems to 

 warn its neighbours by its flight. Sometimes it is so hungry that it appears to take 

 almost anything : thunderstorms or darkness may cause it to cease from feeding. 

 A correspondent of the Zoologist (1847, p. 2030) remarks upon a trout kept in 

 confinement, and on a minnow being thrown in, it would immediately ascend 

 nearly to the surface, hover over its prey like a hawk for a few seconds, then dash 

 down and seize it by the head. The larger fish mostly move about in search of 

 food of an evening and during the night-time, while they generally swim low, 

 especially in cold weather. A favourite haunt is often behind a stone, or bank, 

 while it appears to prefer a bush which gives shade from overhead. It 

 requires moderately pure water, for a carp will live where a trout will die. It 

 is alarmed by shadows falling over its haunts and the presence of pike, which 

 take a heavy toll from these fish in some localities, prevents its feeding 

 freely, causing its condition to be poor and the sport it affords to be 

 small. It used to be said that chub drive out trout during the four hot months. 

 If some trout esteem food which causes their flesh to be tinged with red, while 

 others in the same water appreciate a different sustenance, and consequently are 

 not thus tinged, if the Gillaroo eats shells, occasioning thickening of the middle 

 coat of its stomach, while such diet, as a rule, is rejected by the common variety 

 of brook-trout, it appears to point out that the tastes of some differ from those of 

 their companions, while it is a well-known fact that certain forms of food promote 

 fish-growth more rapidly than others. As already observed, those trout which 

 principally subsist upon freshwater shrimps, Gammari, are generally of the most 

 brilliant tints, and the most pinky-coloured flesh, while vegetable diet appears to 

 generally cause a silvery hue and sometimes a dull appearance. 



One about 1^- lb. weight, taken in June, 1882, in the Tweed, was found to 

 contain 11 small trout and one minnow. They do not object to small fish, as 

 minnows, loaches, sticklebacks, &c, water-rats, young birds, frogs, snails, slugs, 

 worms, leeches, maggots, flies, beetles, moths, and even water-spiders. They will 

 even swallow one of their own kind two-thirds as large as themselves. 



In Mr. Buckland's museum existed an example, the stomach of which was 

 distended by 2470 eggs of the salmon. 



They are out of condition subsequent to the breeding season, and in England 

 Devonshire is considered one of the earliest counties in which they come into 

 condition, and are fished for as early as the commencement of February. 

 Elsewhere there are rivers equally forward. 



Parfitt found river mollusca, as Valvata picinalis, Planorbis marginalis, PJiysa 

 fontinalis, Limneus pereger, in the stomachs of some taken in May, in Powderham 

 Park, Devonshire, but food varies with streams, &c. 



Means of capture. — These may be either netting, spearing, tickling, poisoning, 

 or angling. For the methods of netting these fish I must refer to the introduction. 

 In the dry weather, at the Orkneys in 1882, the water in the Loch of Harray, on 

 the west mainland, was reduced in volume and rendered tepid by a succession of 

 hot days. The trout assembled in shoals at the mouths of the burns and were 

 slaughtered in thousands by netting. Spearing is not now permissible, although 

 it used to be employed by torchlight. Tickling for these fish in small streams is 

 occasionally employed with success. The angler has several modes of procedure 

 at his command, if the fish are large, spinning bait may be employed ; or ground 

 fishing with worms, or fly-fishing either with the real or imitation insect. 

 Different rivers, seasons, and even periods of the day have their peculiar varieties 



