268 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



colors and shapes was indeed enough to puzzle the most 

 learned ichthyologist in the land. The Salmon Trout was 

 mildly colored and deep in proportion to his length; the Sea 

 Trout was brighter and was long and slender — a veritable 

 greyhound in build; the Puyallup Trout was heavier in pro- 

 portion to his length than either of the others; his spots were 

 black and well accentuated, and his whole contour showed 

 that he was lazy and well-fed. The Glacier Trout was 

 smaller than any of the others, and the dealer said he never 

 grew to weigh more than a pound. He was of a dull, milky 

 hue — like the water he inhabited — was lank, lean and looked 

 as if there had been a famine in his neighborhood. 



The Bull Trout was king of the group. He hailed from 

 the Green River and wore such a suit of clothes as could only 

 preserve the resplendent colors in its icy crystalline embraces. 

 He was large and lusty, fat and pugnacious-looking, with a 

 head like his namesake and a belly that showed he had 

 been living on the fat of the land. His pectoral fins and 

 throat were a fiery, cardinal red; his belly and sides, silvery; 

 his back, a dark somber green, and his round black spots 

 appeared to stand out like the heads of hobnails. His whole 

 aspect showed him to be an aggressive, intrepid navigator, a 

 fish that would stem the wildest cataract on the river and 

 that, if hooked, would make sad havoc of any but the best of 

 tackle, and of even that, unless managed by an expert 

 angler. 



Nearly every stream and every lake of any note, in our great 

 western mountain district, has a Trout that neighboring 

 ranchmen, if there are any, deem a distinct species peculiar 

 to that water. In other waters you will find Trout bearing 

 other local names, as the Flathead Lake Trout, the Yellow- 

 stone Trout, the Green River Trout, the Geyser Trout, and 

 many others, for which their sponsors claim characteristics 

 not to be found in any other Trout. But these characteristics 

 may usually be traced to certain conditions of water, food. 



