NOTES RELATIVE TO THE WHITE-FISH. 85 



and in the Saint Francis Lakes, at the stream's head. In these lakes, it 

 is caught abundantly every autumn, by torch-light, with dip-nets. It 

 has not been observed in any of the lakes or rivers which discharge into 

 the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, nor yet in any of the waters of Xova Scotia. 



Some years since, this fish was abundant in the Grand Lake, where 

 the writer, in the month of May, saw great numbers taken out of gill- 

 nets set for gaspereau, and thrown away by the fishermen as worthless. 

 At the same time, the writer caught a number of them, witli rod and 

 line, in one ot those small pieces of water connected with the Grand 

 Lake, usually called " key-holes." It is occasionally taken in the Saint 

 John, throughout its whole extent. In the harbor of Saint John, in 

 spring, it has been often caught in the seines and weirs with the gas- 

 pereau, and salted with that fish, because its value was not known. 



It is probable that the similar fish found in the lower part of the Saint 

 John have strayed from the great lakes at the sources of its upper tribu- 

 taries, and have been swept over the Grand Falls by some extraordinary 

 flood ; once over those falls, there is no jiossibility of return. The white- 

 fish seen by the writer have seldom exceeded a pound and a half in weight; 

 but they are taken in Lake Temiscouata of the weight of three pounds., 

 and even more. It is an inhabitant of all the interior lakes of America, 

 from Lake Erie to the Arctic Sea. Several Indian tribes mainly subsist 

 upon it ; and it forms the principal food at many of the fur-posts for eight 

 or nine months of the year, the supply of other articles of diet being 

 scanty and casual. Its usual weight in the northern regions is from two 

 to three pounds; but it has been taken in the clear, deep, and cold waters 

 of Lake Huron of the weight of thirteen pounds. The largest seen in the 

 vicinity of Hudson's Bay weighed between four and five pounds, and 

 measured twenty inches in length and four in depth. One, of seven 

 pounds' weight, caught in Lake Huron, was twenty-seven inches long. 

 "Very recently, the writer had an opportunity of seeing some fresh speci- 

 mens of the white-fish of Lake Erie, and was satisfied of their identity 

 with the "gizzard-fish" of the Saint John and Lake Temiscouata. 



During the summer, the white-fish is not seen in Lake Temiscouata, 

 and it is then supposed to retire to the depths of that unusually deep 

 and cold lake. In October, it draws near the shores, and ascends the 

 Tuladi Eiver, for the purpose of spawning. It ascends the river during 

 the night, and, having deposited its spawn, returns as quickly as possible 

 to the lake. It is when this fish draws near the shore, prior to spawn - 

 ing, that the fishery is carried on, chiefly at a little bay in Lake Temis- 

 couata, into which the Tuladi discharges its waters. At the same time, 

 the great gray trout (Sahno ferox) follows the white-fish to the shore, 

 and preys upon it. While the nets are set for white-fish, the fishers, 

 with torch and spear, attack and capture the Sahno ferox, frequently of 

 large size; and hence this latter fish has acquired the u^mQ o? txdadi 

 from the river to which it is attracted by its ftivorite prey. 



The white-fish feeds largely on fresh-water shell-fish ; its stomach, in 



