VIII.-THE SALMONID.E OF EASTERN MAINE, NEW BRUNSWICK, 



AND NOVA SCOTIA. 



By Charles Laxmax. 



Note. — I am indebted to Mr. Charles Laiiman, the well-knowu artist, 

 traveler, and sportsman, for accounts of the babits of the salmon, trout, 

 togue, white-fish, capeton, smelt, shad, and gaspereau, or alewife, of 

 Eastern Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, based partly on the 

 inquiries of Mr. Moses H. Perley, but supplemented and verified by his 

 own experience. Having spent many summers in the region referred 

 to, and always with his attention directed to the habits of the species, 

 the present article, hitherto unpublished, will be found to embody some 

 interestiug additions to our knowledge. It is proper to state that it 

 was written many -years ago, and therefore cannot include the more 

 recent additions to our knowledge of the same species. 



Notices by Mr. Lanman of the white-fish and the shad will be found 

 in their appropriate places. 



S. F. BAIRD. 



1. — THE BEOOK-TROITT, {Salmo fonfiuaJis.) 



Nearly every lake and stream in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is 

 fiu'nished with a greater or less number of this species of the salmon 

 family. It is taken of all sizes, from six to twenty inches, and is so 

 well known as scarcely to need a description. Its principal character- 

 istics are the vermilion dots and larger yellow spots in the vicinity of 

 the lateral line, and the tri-colored fins, these being blackish on their 

 edges, broadly bordered with white, and the rest scarlet. 



The brook-trout is a migratory fish ; when in its power, it invariably 

 descends to the sea, and returns to perpetuate its species by depositing-^ 

 its spawn in the clearest, coolest, and most limpid waters it can -find. 

 During the last thirty years, the writer has caught many thousands of 

 these trout, in numerous rivers, lakes, streams and estuaries, in the 

 lower provinces and in Maine, and can safely say, after close and atten- 

 tive examination, that he has never seen but one species of the brook, 

 trout, whatever naturalists may say to the contrary. 



Various causes have been assigned for the great variety in the color 

 of the brook-trout. One great cause is the difference of food ; such as 

 live upon fresh-water shrimps and other Crustacea, are the brightest j 

 those which feed upon May-flies and other common aquatic insects are 

 the next; and those which feed upon worms are the dullest and darkest 

 of all. 



