﻿HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 325 



approximatiou to tlie salt creeks. The differeuce between the salt and fresh-water 

 trout, in this vicinity, seems to be only in name, so far as I have been able to determine, 

 with ample opportunities in taking them, and Avith specimens before me. The pecu- 

 liarity of these varieties seems to depend entirely upon the location, and the nature of 

 the soil at the bottom of the stream they inhabit. The first variety is found in clear 

 water, with light gravelly bottom, and where the banks are not shaded by shrubbery, 

 but where they are almost constantly exposed to the rays of the sun. The second 

 variety inhabits streams which are for the most part shaded by trees, or which take 

 their rise in or pass through peat-bogs. Thus, in one stream, the trout caught at the 

 head of it were always of a very dark brown, almost black, highly marked with yellow 

 and red spots, while those taken near the mouth of the stream were of a light color. 

 One of these streams arises from a deep basin of dark water, thirty feet in diameter and 

 ten feet deep, surrounded by a peat-bog, where the fish taken, so far as I know, have 

 been uniformly of a dark brown. In other streams, having a bottom of iron ore, they 

 are uniformly marked with orange beneath, the color of the upper part and sides ap- 

 pearing to depend upon the amount of exposure to the sun's rays. These observations 

 are made independent of any of the changes of color or markings which take place 

 during the spawning season. 



" About the first of January, these fish are found congregated together at high-water 

 mark, and seem to liave come down the stream for the purpose of locating themselves in 

 the marshes, where they can obtain food. So imiform are they in this, that for a num- 

 ber of years it was my custom to visit one particular stream during this month ; and I 

 was always sure to find them assembled in waiting for me, within a few rods of the 

 same spot, in number I cannot say how many, but I would take of them varying from 

 sixty to seventy-five. 



" During the months of February, March, and April they become separated, and are 

 distributed the whole length of the creeks, and about the first of May begin again, in 

 small numbers, to ascend the stream. This they continue to do as the season advances, 

 and their means of sustenance increases (which is principally insects and flies), till 

 about the middle of October, when they are found in great numbers as near up as they 

 can conveniently get to the origin of the stream. This is their spa\vning season ; and 

 having deposited their spawn, they begin to wend their way down the stream, for the 

 most part in a body, till they again reach the marshes. 



" These fish were formerly taken in considerable numbers with a kind of net used in 

 the herring fishery ; but this method of taking them is, I believe, prohibited by legisla- 

 tion. They are now taken, for the most part, with line and hook, baited with minnow. 



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