of weeds, think over what has happened, and gradually recover his bewildered wits.

or twice in his gay flight, one of them has likes, take an excursus to the opposite bank, unwisely touched the water, and the next where there is no drooping branch to touch dip is a fatal one. His wings are too wet to the line, or bed of weeds for shelter. But, admit of his rising quickly, and in an instant wherever he goes, either with or against the his fate is sealed. There is one swift dash current, make him pull out every inch of in the ripple, a gurgling circle in the bright line he wants, and never suffer it to grow water, and all is over. Now is the chance slack. Now he is grubbing under the opfor Piscator. Never mind the half-pounders posite bank, where he must not linger too in the shallow, but well back from the bank long, but be led steadily out into the stream. throw daintily some three or four feet above Once more he feels the hook, and is off where the unlucky Caperer came to sudden again to the top of the pool; now he comes grief. Let the fly come quietly down with rushing down stream, and, as piscator reels the current, past the fatal spot. No sign up his line with hot haste, leaping wildly of our friend as yet. Never mind, he is into the air. Luckily you have your rod there, and if not hungry, yet breakfasting well down, and the line nearly taut, so that with a fair relish. Patience. Throw again; the dangers of the leap being over, you can fifty times if need be; and every time with bring him out of the swift water into the unruffled temper and equal care. The breeze shallow. And here you must fight him by freshens, and the ripple grows stronger; all inches, but with good temper. One false the better for you. The line is carried out move, one touch of impatience, or hasty to its extreme length before it falls, but just strain, and you will be checkmated; the as the fly reaches the water, the wind gives line will suddenly grow slack, and your it one little flick over in the ripple, there crimson-spotted adversary will roll lazily is a sudden splash, and you have him. over once or twice down the shallow into Gently; shorten your line steadily, keep the pool below, there retire into a fastness your rod well up, and bring him at once quietly down stream into the shallow. There; now you have him under command; not, as you supposed, however, the twopounder, but a fellow of about half his size, who was feeding a foot or two below his worship. It will take you several minutes yet before he is exhausted, as you cannot afford to let him have the run of the pool, and scare all his friends. Now he is in the net, turn him out on the grass, and admire the beauty of a well-made Hampshire trout. Back arched into a curve; small, compact head; belly and sides silvery white and grey, or yellow, spotted with brilliant crimson, grey, and black; and dorsal, tail, fin, of glowing red. And now for the two-pounder. Wait for a minute or two, and he may rise again. There he is! in his old place. Set to work, and make the Caperer fall above him, as lightly as a snowflake. Fifty times in vain! Try fifty more. He is rising freely now, but unhappily not at your fly. He is an old, crafty tyrant of the pool, perhaps, and, up to all the mysteries of feathers and wool, has broken away from half-a-dozen anglers before to-day. Never mind; be patient. Well thrown; at last he has taken that fatal gulp, and as he turns away into his cool retreat, give him a quiet turn of the wrist. He feels it in a second, and is off as hard as he can to an old hiding place, through the rush of water, among the weeds, close up to the woodwork of the bridge. If he once reaches that nook, the chances are fifty to one against piscator; therefore, check him quietly, at once. Let him, if he

But you give him no such chance; shorter and shorter grows the line, feebler becomes every effort, nearer he draws to the bank, and at last drawn up to the surface, with open mouth, he turns over on his side - the net is slipped under him—and in another moment he is on the grass; and if your steel-yard is to be relied on, two pounds and a quarter good weight. It has taken you more than five minutes to kill him, and he has been full of pluck to the last. But, side by side with the other fish, you could scarcely believe that both came from the same river, and were of the same breed. Both are of the same shape, and both in season. But the black spots on the larger fish are larger, and more numerous, thickly scattered along the back and belly. The red spots are at wider intervals, and do not reach above the middle of the belly; while the basis of the colouring, so to speak, is of a tawny brown. On the smaller fish the red spots are sprinkled over the whole body; the belly is golden; there is a deeper fork to the tail, while the colouring inclines to a greenish, silvery black. The length of the heavier fish is about fifteen inches, of the other about a foot.*

When cooked, the larger fish cut red like a salmon; the other white as a dace, but both good, firm, and well-flavoured. Walton attributes this differof the feeding-ground; "if I catch a trout," he says,

ence in the colour of trout to a difference in the soil

in one meadow, he shall be white and faint, and if I catch one in the next meadow, he shall be strong, and red, and lusty, and much better meat; and oftentimes so, that the very shape and enamelled colour

though brilliant; and the whole of the sil-
very side of a mellow brown - the exact tint
of the woodwork, and rich, umber soil at
the sides of the pool.
In all other respects
he is a counterpart of the smaller of his two
friends out of the river-strong, thickset,
and well made, weighing just over a pound.*
And this leads us to a curious fact in the
natural history of the Trout
his power of
acquiring an actual change of colour, appa-
rently by the mere exercise of some mere
volition on his own part.
'Put a living
black burn trout," says Mr. St. John, "into
a white basin filled with water, and in half
an hour he will have become of a far brighter
colour. Keep him in a good-sized jar lined
with white for some days, and he will be-
come absolutely white." Put him into a
dark vessel, and in the course of a few
hours the white fish will again have changed
his outward guise, and become black.

Meanwhile a sudden splashing is heard in the little rivulet behind us, where the water is not more than a foot deep. Is it a fish, or a frog? If you look, you will see the back-fin and tail of a trout above the surface, where he is hunting about among the water-plants for food. He winds in and out very cleverly, and is just paddling slowly up towards the bright, clear water at the foot of the wooden hatch. The pool is about four feet square, and as many deep, shut in by steep banks, and on the third side by a sheet of dark wood which bars all further progress. Over this little domain he reigns supreme, calmly devouring every truant creature that invades it. Long ago has every minnow, stickleback, and young trout perished; and he is often hard-up for a dinner. Glance at him from behind this pollard-willow; he is sailing slowly round the crystal reservoir, and snapping up every stray fly and midge. You can trace him by his back-fin, close up to the "Quicolor albus erat nunc est contrarius albo." woodwork among the bubbles, where a thin However extraordinary this power, as destream of water makes its way through a scribed by Mr. St. John, some facts which crack into the pool. He has been a pris- occurred immediately under our own notice oner within those narrow bounds for the corroborate their truth. The river Plym, last six months, in fact ever since that win- which gives its name to the thriving borough try flood, when even the clear chalk stream of Plymouth, is formed by the junction of two must brim over with snow water, when the streams, the Meavy and the Cad, flowing sluices have to be raised, and many a little down separate rocky wooded valleys, till trout is washed away among the meadow they meet at the foot of Dewerstone, ‡ in grass. It will be curious, therefore, to the pool below Shaugh Bridge, and both see the effect produced by so sudden a filled with trout. But, though both streams change of habitat, and so limited a range of rise on the same moorland, the soil of each hunting-grounds. Put on the smallest of valley entirely differs; the bed of the Meaquill-gnats; shorten your line to about fif- vy being fine gravel and pebbles; that of teen feet, creep quietly up behind the wil- the Cad, dark, peaty, bog earth, and stones lows, and throw as lightly as a gossamer covered with moss nearer black than green. among the bubbles. If you can, make the fly The consequence of this difference is, as it strike against the woodwork, and then drop were, two distinct kinds of fish, both of into the water. Ha! your quill-gnat has which may be caught in the same rapid, becaught in a splinter of the wood, and holds low Shaugh Bridge, perhaps within a yard fast. Still; don't be in a hurry. One short or two of each other; yet one of a brilliant, jerk will set all to rights, when a hard pull silvery white, starred with crimson, and would have snapped the collar. There-all the other of an olive or golden hue, as is well, and at the very instant the fly reaches the water, it is seized on, and you are playing a good, strong fish, in a pool four feet wide. Don't give him an inch of line, and above all don't let him go for a second among the grassy roots. He fights hard to get there, for two minutes; but then you have him safe on the bank; and if you were surprised at the difference of outward show in the last two fish, you feel inclined to say of this one "Hic niger est, hunc tu Romane caveto." He is, more or less, black all over. and belly are all dark, the red spots fewer, of him hath joyed me to look on; for, as Solomon saith, Every thing is beautiful in his season.'"'

Back

dark as a mulatto, the red spots few and far between. Further down the stream the two varieties intermingle, and produce a breed which partakes to some extent of the characteristics of both stocks, and yet has features of its own. Five miles below Shaugh Bridge, the Plym flows at the foot of some steep hills, and specially the famous Cann Quarry-of pale blue slate,

with which the bed of the river is here lined. All along that reach the young trout

* This fish, when cooked, was firm and of a good red colour, but of a strong, earthy flavour. ↑ St. John's "Wild Sports."

Dewerstone, the fine, old, granite-covered Tor, so charmingly painted by Carrington, in his poem. of" Dartmoor."

THE TROUT IN CLEAR WATER.

pied, only this morning, by the two-pounder, is another fish of the same size. He feeds weeds, as his deceased friend, and, in fact, near the same stone, retires to the same appears to have succeeded to all the rights and privileges of sovereignty. The smaller fish treat him with the same deference, and keep at as ar espectful a distance as they did from his predecessor. How the vacancy became known, or where the new sovereign came from, whether from the pool above, or that below, or from some quieter nook in this same run, it is not for us to say. But, "the king never dies," his right of succession will be probably obeyed, unless some truant three-pounder make his way up and contest the seat with him. If so the fight will be fierce.

"When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war. "

obey the law of their being, and assume a garb of dark greyish blue, far more like that of the salmon, or grayling. fish are few and small, the diet being of But the the scantiest kind. By the time the Plym has reached Plym Bridge, it has become a goodly river, abounding in fish of a good size, which have now lost all trace of their moorland origin, and cut red like a salmon. But in the large meadow, just below the bridge, is a deep pond, shut in by a thick fringe of trees. This deep hollow was once the shaft of a copper-mine; the water is of a pale green, and the fish are of the same pallid, unhealthy complexion, and only to be caught by the wariest of anglers; trout with large dropsical. heads and greenish bodies. Oddly enough, close by is another pool which afforded one more example of this chameleon tendency of the trout. was in a little hollow, in which some recent It flood had left a foot or two of water, as And here our own personal observation is well as a few scattered fish. In crossing corroborated by one of the cleverest and the meadow one September evening, to kindest of Hampshire fishermen, who knows reach an open bend in the river, we passed every pool and fish in this river. He was this lonely pool, and in mere wantonness fishing one morning higher up the stream, took a cast at it. Instanter came up a when he observed two large trout feeding fish, and in a trice he was undergoing care-near, together; the one close to a lock, the ful examination; for he was about as big as a pilchard, but very long and thin, and brown all over like a ripe filbert. Nor was the cause of his strange complexion hard to understand; for the pool was paved with ruddy autumn leaves, and the water being thus turned into a dye had seized on its few speckled children and stained their pale faces like so many gipsies. A wag who was present said that this snuff-coloured, lanky fish reminded him of Dominie Sampson; and so, till the next drought came, the little patch of water got the name of Sampson's Pool."

66

other a dozen yards or so lower down. All at once the lower fish began to move up, into his rival's territory. at once detected, felt to be de trop; and symptoms of uneasiness were exhibited on His presence was both sides by short, restless dartings from side to side of the lock. In another minute the fight had begun, each other like a couple of bulls," striking heavy blows with the snout, and knocking "the trout rushed at each about unmercifully. But neither fish would yield an inch, and the end of it was that both of the combatants were taken out But we must hasten back into Hampshire. but dead. Whether they fought as a couple in the keeper's landing net, stunned, and all It is now hotter than ever; the breeze has of rival chanticleers fight, for mere supremdied away, and the water seems brighter acy in the farm yards, or how far the case than crystal. But, if well out of sight you favours Mr. Darwin's theory of propagation look up the pool, you are pretty much in their old places, and facts there can be no doubt. And to this will see that the trout by selection, it is hard to say, but of the though not steadily feeding-in a sort of instance we must add another, of a somesiesta which does not preclude exertion if what similar pugnacity. Higher up the necessary. Look across the river to that river, on a branch stream, and close to the little bay in the shore, where some cattle roadside, is a mill, and in the meadow above came down to drink ten minutes ago. pool is still muddy where they stood, for a ground for a supply of plump, strong trout. The it a stretch of deep water, ample feeding sort of eddy in the curve prevents the water The general run of fish rarely exceeds ten from being carried back into the main ounces, because the water is overstocked, stream; and if you look sharply, you will and the larder which would keep twenty make out the back-fin of a large trout forag- dozen in thriving condition, only stunts the ing among the roots of grass in the shal- growth of double the number. After caplow for such few caddis baits as have been turing eight or ten of the crowd one evenstirred up by the kine. In the centre of ing, a much larger fish was hooked, and bethe stream, too, and in the very spot occu-ing brought calmly in towards the bank,

when suddenly endued with a fresh vigor, he set off boldly into the stream. A minute ago he was in extremis, and now seemed to have taken a new lease. But it was only a dying flicker. In a trice he was calmly brought to the bank again, and with him came the causa teterrima belli, in the shape of a huge, black-looking trout, who hovered close to his expiring friend, and as if in utter bewilderment rushed at him, bit him, and drove him to the extreme surface. So close were the two together at one time, that had any friend been with the angler (who held his rod in one hand and his net in the other), both fish might have been dipped out at once. As it was, the big fish | forced the other in his terror to leap about till he broke away, and both sailed down the stream together. This happened more than once, but whether curiosity, sympathy, or amazement, induced the rover to come to the assistance of his friend in trouble, it is impossible to say.

which anglers know nothing. At one moment, far and wide, up and down the river, not a single rise breaks the glittering surface, but in ten minutes the whole surface will be alive with fish. This may last for twenty minutes, or for an hour, or two hours, and then the feast all at once come to an end, though the table is still loaded with viands- time and tide are both fair, and the music of the evening breeze, and scores of dainty songsters among the trees, conspire to give the guests an appetite. Since about three p. m. this afternoon, few trout have been on the move, and now there is a dead lull. Hasten down to the broad ford, below the mill bridge, and see what is going on, where the river runs over an open sheet of gravel. The clouds grow darker and thicker, and there is a heavy shower blowing up.. Here come its first drops. Draw out some half-dozen yards of line, throw boldly out into mid-stream in the deeper water below the ford, stick your rod If we wish to see further what scarcity into the turf at an angle of 45°, and let of food will do, let us go down to the nar- your flies take their chance. It is now rainrow, swift run below the mill-wheel. The ing heavily-so heavily, that most of the mill-tail is generally a rich feeding ground gnats, midges, and caperers are driven for goodly trout, but here the stream, flow- ashore, or sent water-logged down the ing over a hard, stony soil, yields scarcely stream; but if you look keenly down the a grain of sustenance. The wind is still reach, you will still see some fish at work. high, and there is a tall railing between you Come back to the elm tree for shelter; here, and the water, yet throw as well as you close to the hedge, and keep watch for ten can, up stream. Instantly, both flies are minutes. Never mind the beetle, as you seized on, though you will probably land call it, on your neck. It's only a cockneither fish. You can, however, see both, chafer; throw him smartly into the still just half-a-pound each, and both already al-water by the side of the eddy, and see what most exhausted. Bring them in close to the railing, and make a plunge with your net at the one hooked to the tail-fly. You have him safe, but the other swings against the railing, and splashes back into the ripple. Now look at your capture. Pale, thin, and narrow, he is about as long and heavy as a small herring, almost of one width from head to tail, and in colour of one uniform dingy grey. But he has swallowed the fly deeply, and you will have some trouble to unhook him. Keep him for examination by-and-bye.

But meanwhile, evening has come on. The wind has all but died away; piles of grey clouds cover the western sky, myriads of flies are abroad, and over the river, Caperers, Black gnats, Whirling duns, and Alder flies. But where are the fish? At the very time one would expect them to be busiest at the top of the water, not a trout is to be seen, except in those broad shallows where small fry are dimpling the stream into shining circles. Here, again, is a mystery. The hours at which fish feed are altogether arbitrary, and seem to depend on laws of

becomes of him. He tries very hard to rise again, but his wings are too thoroughly clogged with the moisture, and so he drifts slowly along in the back-water, making little splashes, which grow feebler every moment. Two fish have been at him already, but have given him up as tough and unmanageable, and now a third has seized him, and actually carried him down for several seconds. But he struggles up into dismal vitality once more, and has just got into deeper water, when a greedy half-pounder's jaws open fiercely, and shut upon him with a splash, in the midst of which, however, is heard a far pleasanter sound. It is the loud whizzing click of your reel that is spinning swiftly round at the instance of a good, strong fish. In the midst of the rain, he was roving to and fro in the broad water, foraging for whatever might fall in his way, when he suddenly met with your two flies, seven or eight inches under water, and floating idly about as any couple of drowned flies might do. When first met with, they attracted little notice, but at the second offer the Governor was too tempting to be

neglected. Having hastily swallowed it, and not finding the flavour exactly what he expected, the trout dashed away to the other side of the river, at a loss to understand what the uneasy sensation in his lower jaw can mean. Run down, therefore, and in spite of the rain, bring him to his senses, and then to the shore, across this pebbly beach. But don't hurry him; he is a goodly fish, the strong current is dead against you, and the trees forbid your going any lower down the stream. There, now you have him; he weighs some eighteen or twenty ounces, and is as handsome a fish as you will see to-night.

grassy bank. But it is not once in fifty times that a fish of his weight (one pound and a half), in good condition, can be thus quickly despatched.

Before you attack number four, look well to the state of your collar and flies. Both have been sharply tried; the enemy is in the centre of the stream and looks like a heavy fish, with an ominous bank of weeds close at hand in his favour. You fish for him carefully for five minutes before he notices you; then he rises well twice, and you miss him both times; one can hardly say how or why. But at the third chance you hook him, and he goes to the bottom like a stone, But the shower is over at last; the air in water six feet deep. Shorten your line, seems sweeter and fresher than ever; the therefore, and prepare for a fight. All at lark is singing her evening song high up once, for some unaccountable reason, he towards the blue sky; the sand-martins comes to the surface and begins lashing the and swallows are busily skimming across water with his tail; a very dangerous pasthe meadow and the shining river, beyond time which you must not allow. Remonwhich the light has just caught the spire of strate gently by a quiet movement towards the village church, and turned its shifting the shore. He understands you, and once vane into a flash of gold. And now, above more rushes into the depths, but not before all, the fish are feeding in downright earnest; you have ascertained him to be at least a not much splashing or noise, but steady pound heavier than your last fish. He went work. Stroll quietly down, now, to the down like lead, and having worked his way broad, open curve of the river above the steadily up into the heart of that bed of hatch, where five or six hours ago the whole weeds, now anchors hard and fast. You stream was one molten sheet of glass. Keep must either wait until it is his pleasure to well back till you reach the point where you come out; or pull for it. We strongly adwish to begin to fish, and then look up vise gentle means, persuasion, entreaty; stream. At this very moment, within reach, but you look at your watch and the growing are five large trout, all feeding freely, in dusk, and then glance at that other fish, different parts of the stream, and all to be number five, still steadily feeding under the caught if you know how to set about it. opposite bank, and decide on adopting Begin with the fish lowest down the stream. strong measures. Three or four gentle reTwo throws prove beyond a doubt that you minders have no effect on him; then you try will see nothing more of him. Both were a good, steady pull, under which your rod awkwardly managed, and the one tiny splash bends nearly double, and in another second made by your collar - which has got twist- flies back to its original position, while the ed by the wind-sent him flying across the slack line floats idly down stream. The stream at such a pace as to scare number fight is over and you have the cold satisfactwo. Both are now safe in the weeds, under tion of finding that your collar snapped at the opposite bank. Luckily, number three the Bob-fly which got hooked in the weeds is feeding steadily on this side of the river, as securely as the tail fly in the enemy's and within a yard of the shore. You can- mouth. But there is no help for it; set to not see him? Close to the tip of that wav-work cheerfully, repair the broken tackle, ing weed; mark the little dimpling circles and be content, as that prince of anglers, which follow each other in rapid succession. T. B., advises, for the future to fish with The nose of the trout is just an inch below one fly.' And now for number five. It has those circles, and he is rising a dozen times grown very dusky in the last ten minutes; in a minute, though it would be hard to put on, therefore, a small, white moth, and say at what. You have only to throw clev- if you can manage a dozen yards of line erly a yard above him, and he is yours. make up your mind to have the last of the Shorten your line, and come within a dozen quintet. You can but just reach him, and yards of him, as he is feeding exactly in front of you. At the third throw you hook him; bring him gently down close to the bank, in the same narrow channel, and before he is at all aware of what is going to happen, your friend dips him out upon the

must make haste before the light is too dim to see where your fly falls. At the tenth throw he darts quickly from his usual feeding place, and seizes the moth as it floats swiftly by him in the next eddy, and then as he feels the hook, with much splashing