1 1 2 Salmonidae 



farthest south, in the head-waters of the Chattahoochee, 

 Savannah, Catawba, and French Broad, rarely pass the dimen- 

 sions of fingerlings. The largest specimens are recorded from 

 the sea along the Canadian coast. These frequently reach a 

 weight of ten pounds; and from their marine and migratory 

 habits, they have been regarded as forming a distinct variety 

 (Salvelinus jontinalis immaculatus) , but this form is merely 

 a sea-run brook-trout. The largest fresh-water specimens rarely 

 exceed seven pounds in weight. Some unusually large brook- 

 trout have been taken in the Rangeley Lakes, the largest known 

 to me having a reputed weight of eleven pounds. The brook- 

 trout is the favorite game-fish of American waters, preeminent 

 in wariness, in beauty, and in delicacy of flesh. It inhabits all 

 clear and cold waters within its range, the large lakes and the 

 smallest ponds, the tiniest brooks and the largest rivers; and 

 when it can do so without soiling its aristocratic gills on the way, 

 it descends to the sea and grows large and fat on the animals of 

 the ocean. Although a bold biter it is a wary fish, and it often 

 requires much skill to capture it. It can be caught, too, with 

 artificial or natural flies, minnows, crickets, worms, grasshoppers, 

 grubs, the spawn of other fish, or even the eyes or cut pieces of 

 other trout. It spawns in the fall, from September to late in 

 November. It begins to reproduce at the age of two years, 

 then having a length of about six inches. In spring-time the 

 trout delight in rapids and swiftly running water; and in the 

 hot months of midsummer they resort to deep, cool, and shaded 

 pools. Later, at the approach of the spawning season, they 

 gather around the mouths of cool, gravelly brooks, whither they 

 resort to make their beds.* 



The trout are rapidly disappearing from our streams through 

 the agency of the manufacturer and the summer boarder. In 

 the words of an excellent angler, the late Myron W. Reed of 

 Denver: "This is the last generation of trout-fishers. The 

 children will not be able to find any. Already there are well- 

 trodden paths by every stream in Maine, in New York, and in 

 Michigan. I know of but one river in North America by the 

 side of which you will find no paper collar or other evidence of 

 civilization. It is the Nameless River. Not that trout will 



* Hallock. 



