fly cast upon the water than it was eagerly seized by 

 one of these beautiful fish. When it was landed the 

 color astonished me, and knowing that it was a trout, I 

 thought it must be a diseased one and threw it back. 

 Making another cast I secured another one as prompt- 

 ly as the first, and it being the same objectionable 

 color and of the same size about eight inches I con- 

 cluded that it was the same fish and this time threw it 

 on the bank. As fast as my deer skin fly would strike 

 the water it would be eagerly seized by one of these 

 game little fellows and all of the same size and color. 

 I was puzzled and called to my companion, who was 

 cooking our supper but a few yards away, to "come and 

 see what was the matter with these fish." Professing 

 some scientific knowledge, he cut one of them open, 

 examined the meat and the intestines and finally pro- 

 nounced it in a healthy condition, finishing with: 



"The coffee is boiling and the bacon is fried; hurry 

 up, and as soon as you get a mess I'll fry them and 

 take all chances." 



I soon had a mess for supper and while he was fry- 

 ing them I caught enough for breakfast, for the game 

 little fellows would race for the fly as fast as it struck 

 the water. We ate them with a relish, for we had had 

 nothing but bacon, venison and frying-pan bread for a 

 month. As we found ourselves alive in the morning 

 we increased the prescription to a good alapathic dose 

 for breakfast. 



The golden trout are small, rarely reaching a length 

 of more than fifteen inches. The back is olive, sides 

 and belly light orange or golden yellow with a scarlet 

 stripe along the center of the belly and at the base of 

 the pectral, ventral and anal fins, which are of them- 

 selves more or less of a golden color. Tail, olive, grad- 

 ing into orange on the lower part. Few spots in front 

 of the dorsal fin but abundant behind it. 



While the rainbow trout of the Coast have been 

 given several sub-specific names, such as mason i for 

 the Coast streams of Oregon and Washington, shasta 

 and stonei for those of the upper Sacramento basin, and 

 gilbert! for those of Kern river, there seems to be so 

 very little reason for this distinction beyond the usual 

 variations of color in all trout, spots and size with the 

 changing conditions of water and feed, that I shall make 

 no mention of the very slight variations upon which 

 the ichtheologist has based the claim to a sub-specific 

 nomenclature. 



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