384 A DESCRIPTION OF 
No torrents stain thy limpid source ; 
No rocks impede thy dimpling course, 
That sweetly warbles o'er its bed, 
With white, round, polish'd pebbles spread ; 
While, lightly poised, the scaly brood, 
In myriads, cleave thy crystal flood ; 
The springing Trout, in speckled pride ; 
The salmon, monarch of the tide ; 
The ruthless pike, intent on war : 
The silver eel, and mottled par. 
Devolving from thy parent lake, 
A charming maze thy waters make, 
By bowers of birch, and groves of pine, 
And hedges flower'd with eglantine. 
SMOLLETT. 
They feed on river flies and other water insects, and are 
so fond of them, and so blindly voracious, that anglers 
deceive them with artificial flies made up of feathers, 
wool, and other materials, which resemble very closely 
the natural ones. In Lough Neagh, in Ireland, Trouts 
have been caught weighing thirty pounds ; and we are 
told, that in the lake of Geneva, and in the northern 
lakes of England, they are found of a still larger size. It 
holds the first place among the river fish, and its flesh is 
very delicious, but hard of digestion when old, or kept 
too long. They spawn in the month of December, and 
deposit their eggs in the gravel at the bottom of rivers, 
dykes, and ponds. Unlike most otlier fish, the Trouts are 
least esteemed when near spawning. They are properly 
in season in the months of July and August, being then 
fat and well- tasted. 
