86 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



of the bouse. He stands in the water perfectly motionless, and as tho 

 fishes approach he strikes them. I have sometimes heard a great flop- 

 ping and disturbance in the water at night time, and upon going to the 

 place in the morning found heron tracks and a trout from half a 

 pound to one pound in weight with a hole in his back or side into which 

 you could put your finger. I suppose this fish to have been too strong 

 for the heron that had mortally wounded it. 



To capture them, set steel traps in shallow water, taking careful pre- 

 caution to secure them, or the heron will fly away with them. When 

 you find him in the trap quiet him with a long club or a charge of shot, 

 lest the savage bird inflict a bad wound upon you. 



V. Bitterns.— These birds are similar to the herons, though smaller, 

 and do some damage. I always shoot them. 



VI. MusKRATS. — This animal feeds upon the caddis worm and other 

 fish food, undermines the banks, and eats off the screen slats. I have 

 seen a peck of empty caddis-worm cases in one pile on the bank at the 

 water's edge, which had been left by the muskrats. These should be 

 trapped in the winter and spring, when their fur will sell readily. I 

 usually sell from $10 to $15 worth in a year. 



VII. Minks. — The mink is the greatest of our enemies. If he gets 

 the notion of coming to your ponds he will annihilate the fish before 

 you know it. He usually enters at the same place. Set your trap just 

 under the water where he may slide into it as he is sliding into the pond. 

 I have seen a mink slide down the bank of a stream under the water 

 and come up with a fish time and again, with scarcely a failure. One 

 mink is good for a hundred dollars' worth of fish in a short time. 



VIII. Snakes. — I have seen a 30-inch water-adder catch a 5 ounce 

 trout, and have found three trout at a time in the stomach of the same 

 variety. A gentleman told me this spring that last summer he was 

 passing near a i)ond which contained brook trout, and he saw a snake 

 glide down the bank into the water, and as the water was clear he 

 watched it. It went into some moss that was on the bottom of the 

 pond. Entering the moss from below, soon he saw its head appear in 

 the top of the bunch of moss, and then, for the first time, noticed a small 

 trout about 4 inches long that was almost over the snake's iiead. 

 After slowly drawing its head out a little, it made a dart for the fish 

 and caught him ; then the snake came out on the bank. The only 

 method I have found for dealing with them is to kill them whenever 

 they come in your path. In the months of May and June they may be 

 found along the banks of streams or ponds sunning themselves, when 

 a charge of No. 6 or 8 shot will put them on the retired list. 



United States Fish Commission, Fehmary 8, 1884. 



