SPAWNING OF THE BROOK TEOUT. 499 



SPAWNING HABITS. Of the Trout Mr. Miluer writes: "His whole wooing is the most 

 polite attention and the gentlest of persuasions. He moves continually to and fro before his mate, 

 parading his bright colors, while she rests quietly, with her head up stream, vibrating her fins 

 just sufficiently to keep her from lloating down. At Waterville, Wisconsin, 1 had the opportunity 

 of watching their habits. A pair of large Trout had selected a spot near the bank of the stream, 

 where the water was about ten inches deep. The female had fanned the gravel with her tail and 

 anal tin until it was clean and white, and had succeeded in excavating a cavity. They were fright- 

 ened away as I came to the edge of the bank. Concealing myself behind a willow bush, I watched 

 their movements. The male returned first, reeonnoitering the vicinity, and, satisfying himself 

 that the coast was clear, spent a half hour in endeavoring to coax the female to enter the nest. 

 She, resting half concealed in the weeds, a few feet away, seemed unwilling to be convinced that 

 the danger was gone'; and he, in his full, bright colors, sailed backward and forward from the nest 

 to his mate, rubbing himself against her, and swimming off again in a wide circle close along the 

 bank, as if to show her how far he could venture without finding danger. She finally entered the 

 nest." 



The spawning season begins in New England in October, continuing from three to six 

 months, and during this period the fish should be protected by stringent laws. Mr. Livingston 

 Stone observed that in his ponds at Charlestown, New Hampshire, spawning began October 11', 

 and ended early in December; at Seth Green's establishment, near Rochester, New York, it began 

 on the same day, and continued until March. At the former station spring water, with a uniform 

 temperature of 47, was in use, while at Caledonia the eggs were kept in brook water, which is 

 colder in midwinter, retarding development. 



Trout eggs are usually three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, although varying greatly, and 

 are colorless, red, or orange-hued. The quantity yielded by a fish is in direct proportion to its. 

 si/.e, the average being from lour to six hundred. Mr. Stone took sixty from a half-ounce iish, and 

 eighteen hundred from one which weighed a pound. The eggs having been laid, their time of 

 development depends strictly on the temperature of the water. According to Mr. Ainsworth, they 

 will hatch in one hundred and sixty live days with the mercury at 37, one hundred and three at 

 41, eighty-one at 44, fifty-six at 48, forty-seven at 50, thirty-two at 54, etc, Seth Green's rule- 

 is that at 50 they hatch in fifty days, every degree warmer or colder making a difference of live 

 days. After the eggs are hatched the yolk sac is absorbed in from thirty to eighty days, and the 

 young fish begin to lead an independent life. Now the rate of growth is determined by the amount 

 of food consumed. Some two-year-old fish weigh a pound, some half an ounce, as Mr. Stone's 

 experiments show. In domestication growth is more even. Mr. Ainsworth's estimate allows an 

 average of two ounces for yearlings, a quarter of a pound for two-year-olds, half a pound for three- 

 year-olds, and a pound for four-year-olds. Wild fish often grow much faster. One of a large 

 number of Rangely Trout, tagged by Mr. George Sbepard Page in 1871, and caught in 1873, was 

 found to have grown in two years from half a pound to two pounds and one-quarter. All two- 

 year-old Trout and some yearlings can reproduce their kind. 



SIZE. The si/.e attained varies in different regions. Brook Trout seldom exceed two or 

 three pounds, and a five pounder is thought a monster. Saint Lawrence Sea Trout usually weigh 

 two and one-half pounds, though they are not seldom caught weighing six or eight. A famous 

 locality for large fish is the headwaters of the Androscoggin River in Northwestern Maine. Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz in I860 obtained one of them which weighed eleven pounds. The well-known speci- 

 men taken by Mr. George Shepard Page in 1807, in Rangely Lake, weighed ten pounds after three. 



