The Trout. 467 
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. 
The beautiful silvery Trout is the most voracious of 
fresh-water fish, and will devour every living thing 
which the water produces — even its own spawn in all 
its stages, and will lie upon the bed or hill, watching to 
seize its young fry, as they become vivified and rise 
from under their gravelly birthplace. Neither does he 
confine himself to any given sort of fish, but luxuriates 
his rapacious stomach upon all the varieties, from in- 
stinct occasionally changing his food to larvae, caddis, 
ephemera, worms, and even the young of the water- 
snail, all of which act as alteratives. Owing to his 
large fins and broad tail, his movements are extremely 
rapid, and, from his muscular power and pliability, he 
seldom misses his prey. His habits are solitary, being 
only accompanied by one, and that at some distance 
from him, in the summer season; and as the autumn 
approaches, when larvae, &c, are diminishing, he keeps 
entirely alone until the pairing season returns. The 
period of spawning differs in various rivers from natural 
causes, such as snow, cold rains, or inclement weather ; 
for, as Trout, like salmon, spawn on gravel beds in shal- 
low water, the cold readily affects them. When they 
cannot reach the spot prepared for the deposit of their 
eggs, they frequently abstain from spawning for weeks. 
The younger Trout generally hill, as it is termed, ear- 
lier than those of larger growth. They begin to throw 
up their bed early in December, when the female and 
male may be seen working together, the former mostly 
in advance. By constant labour they dig a hollow in 
the gravel, throwing it up on each side, and at last 
forming a heap, which is called a hill, or bed. At this 
period they are very shy and stupid, and even the sha- 
dow of a cloud will frighten them from their hill, when 
they retreat into deeper water; but iipon finding all 
quiet they return. This preparation generally occupies 
two or three weeks ; and frequently the hill is shared 
both in labour and occupation by several pairs of Trout. 
It often measures many feet in diameter, and is two or 
