PISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 13 



practically two small streams which unite just above the bridge not 

 far from the lake at Blodgetts Landing. The north branch is locally 

 known as ''Big Brook" and the south branch as ''Little Brook." 

 Big Brook is the outlet of Chalk Pond. Big Brook was explored 

 only to the Newbury road, about seven-twentieths of a mile from the 

 lake at its mouth, which is all the way through woodland, and some 

 portions, especially a short distance below the road, are a tangle of 

 alders and vines. This branch was explored two or more times, and 

 there was always some water m the brook, even above the road, 

 although it was dry in many places below during the summer. Below 

 the road it is entirely a sandy, rocky, and gravelly bottomed brook to 

 the bridge, not over 5 or 6 feet wide in any place, and in some places 

 so narrow that it can be stepped across. This statement pertains to 

 the summer conditions. In the spring there is a considerable body 

 of water flowmg in it, as was seen in April, 1910, and as evinced by the 

 extent of the dry bed. While in the spring there seemed to be more 

 water flowing in it than m Pike Brook, due perhaps to the Chalk Pond 

 Reservoir, m the summer Pike Brook carries far more water. 



About three-twentieths of a mUe up this branch is an immense 

 stone wall called ''The dam," under which is a very small culvert, 

 through which the small brook flows. Below and near the dam were 

 moss-grown ledges over which earlier in the season must have been 

 a forceful waterfall. 



Little Brook, which in the spring carries much less water than the 

 other, appears to rise only a short distance from the Newbury road, 

 in an open field. Durmg the summer it has more water and there are 

 deeper pools. It is evidently fed by more or larger sprmgs. At its 

 upper end it consisted of two short branches, one of which in mid- 

 summer consisted of detached pools of spring water; the other was 

 absolutely dry. The entire course of this branch from the fork just 

 mentioned to its junction with Big Brook is through woodland, and 

 it has a bottom of sand, gravel, and some bowlders, like Big Brook. 

 Both branches naturally fluctuate in height of water with ramfall and 

 dry weather. In both branches there are frequent pools that are 

 never dry, and in both in a dry season there are portions of the bot- 

 tom that are entirely dry at the surface, although water doubtless 

 trickles through to some extent. The pools, however, in Little Brook 

 are larger and deeper, and the temperature was constantly slightly 

 lower than in Big Brook. 



The brooks, especially m the spring-fed pools, have a more uniform 

 temperature throughout the year than the shallow water of the lake. 

 In such a pool near the hatchery at Pike Brook on April 28 and August 

 18 the temperature was 50° F., the highest point reached; on October 

 15, 45°; and November 2, 40°, the lowest point reached, a range of 

 10 degrees in about six months. The range of the temperature of the 



