BITS BY POND, RIVER, AND SEASHOKE. 169 



quietly lifting up the net. They will travel through 

 long dark drains to their spawning grounds, and 

 their instinctive knowledge of suitable streams is 

 just as marvellous as that which guides migratory 

 birds to and from their winter quarters. For instance, 

 a mountain trout will travel several hundred yards 

 up a small stream which is nothing but rough 



boulders and falls, in order to avail himself of a 

 hundred yards or two of sluggish water with a 

 sandy bottom, in spite of the fact that he had, if bred 

 in it, probably not been back for several years since 

 quitting its waters. Again, they do not ascend un- 

 suitable streams in any numbers for breeding pur- 

 poses, even if the volume of water be twice that of 

 a suitable one. 



After depositing their spawn they descend to 

 their old haunts again in a very weak, lethargic 

 condition. I have seen one through the ice covering 



