Page:British Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fresh-water Fishes.djvu/85

TROUT when fishing in several feet of water in an open river swimming-bath, and I have bagged as many as ten brace of two pounders in one day from a fast-running brook across which one could almost walk dry shod! The two largest fresh-water Trout that have passed through my hands turned the scale at 8 pounds and 7¾ pounds respectively. These were caught in the River Ivel,

near Baldock, Hertfordshire, a few years ago. The Trout is very partial to the same haunt, and I know intimately many specimens that are always to be seen at a certain spot where they have thus remained ever since I was a boy. That they attain a ripe old age seems certain. Possessed of very quick powers of movement, the Trout keeps pretty much to the bed of its environment, and it varies in colour even in the same stream. Artificial 69