Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 535 



January and February and with ice forming in greater or lesser amounts during the 

 coldest part of the winter. 



Wanderings in Salt Water. The movements of the Salters after they have dropped 

 downstream to the head of tide vary widely from place to place. At the one extreme, as 

 was formerly illustrated along the southern shore of Cape Cod and is illustrated today 

 by the estuary of the Little River Codroy on the coast of western Newfoundland and by 

 the Wilmot River estuary on the south shore of Prince Edward Island, many Brook 

 Trout (perhaps a majority) may remain with the river influence during the entire interval 

 between their downstream and upstream runs. At the opposite extreme, they may leave 

 the mouths of the rivers, even within the first days after the ice has broken, so that 

 nets set a mile or two offshore will catch more of them than nets set near river mouths ; 

 this is the case in the Moser River, Nova Scotia (j^: 180), and off the southern part 

 of the outer coast of Labrador.*' We suspect that regional variation in the available 

 food supply rather than the saltiness of the water is the determining factor here, for 

 fontinalis in splendid condition are caught in distinctly brackish water as well as in 

 water of salinity characteristic of the open coast nearby. 



In any case, sea-run Brook Trout tend to hold very close to the immediate coastline 

 and to water only a few feet deep. Along the south shore of Cape Cod, for example, 

 in the days when Salters were caught there in large numbers, they were taken chiefly 

 in the salt creeks and in the estuaries into which these open, not far out in the bays. 

 Off the Moser River, Nova Scotia, they are seen similarly "in schools in water five 

 to ten feet deep (1.5 to 3 m) around the inner islands and also around some of the small 

 private wharves . . . when lobster pots are brought in and cleaned, or when fish are 

 being dressed," with those of different sizes tending to school separately (White, jy: 

 471, 472). They are also found indifferently along sandy beaches, over muddy bottom, 

 and around rocky shores. 



The only precise information as to how far offshore they are to be found regularly 

 is that they are taken in drift nets set for Atlantic salmon over the shoals in the Bay 

 of Chaleur,^^ and that they are caught on hook-and-line as much as seven or eight miles 

 offshore, in the western side of Hudson Bay off the Nelson River (jj : 6). How much 

 farther out to sea they may stray occasionally is anyone's guess. 



The most extensive journey along shore that has been reported so far for any of 

 the many Brook Trout marked either in the Moser River, Nova Scotia {yy. 471), or 

 on the south shore of Cape Cod has been eight miles (^9: 10); in both cases the fish 

 in question were recaptured in streams other than the ones where they had been 

 marked. For Salters to reach Woods Hole on the southern coast of Massachusetts, as 

 they sometimes do, does not require a swim of more than seven or eight miles from 

 the nearest home stream. On the southern part of the outer coast of Labrador, however, 

 fontinalis have been caught in nets set on headlands ten miles away from the nearest 

 river where Salters have been taken.-' Furthermore, during the period when Salters 



27. Information from Newfoundland Ranger S. M. Christian. 



28. Information contributed by W. P. Templeman. 



