THE BROOK TROUT. 



213 



Should an}' doubt that the Speckled Trout is fully entitled 

 to distinction as emphatically a gentleman among fishes, the 

 following quotation from Mr. James W. Miller should forever 

 set the question at rest: 



"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 suffi- 

 ciently to keep her from floating down. At Waterville, 

 Wisconsin, I 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 

 fin until it was clean and white, and had succeeded in excavat- 

 ing a cavity. They were frightened away as I came to the 

 edge of the bank. Concealing myself behind a willow bush, 

 I watched their movements. The male returned first, recon- 

 noitcring 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 back- 

 ward and forward from the nest to his mate, rubbing him- 

 self 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." 



Trout are also pugnacious at times, and have been known 

 to engage in desperate conflicts with each other, sometimes 

 resulting in the death of one or both of the combatants. 



Many and various are the haunts of the Spotted Trout; 

 from the pebbly shallows of the crystal lake, or the tranquil 

 reaches and foamy pools of the tumbling river, where it is a 

 joy to cast the fly, to the cold spring brooks far up on the 

 mountain side, hidden by rocks and brushwood, and some- 

 times flowing unseen for many a rood, through subterraneous 



