240 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



fish, that Mr. Perley not only referred it to an entirely 

 difterent species and misled persons as to its habits, but has 

 communicated the same errors to Frank Forester, who entails 

 them upon his readers. 



Taking Mr. Perley's account with Frank Forester's endorse- 

 ment as true, I arranged my tackle accordingly, and last 

 summer visited the Province of New Brunswick, expecting 

 to take the true Salmo trxdta, but after diligent search and 

 inquiry, seeking every source of reliable information, I could 

 not find or hear of its locality. All who had observed fish or 

 had to do with-them, averring that there were no Trout in the 

 Provinces but those with red sjiots, or any fish of the Salmon 

 family in the rivers without red spots, except Salmon, Smelts, 

 and Capelins. I also found that the general average size of 

 this fish when taken in the rivers, was not as large as Mr. 

 Perley's remarks would lead one to suppose, and that his 

 "average from three to five pounds," and his killing "in one 

 morning sixteen Trout weighing eighty pounds," were won- 

 ders " few and far between." Such rare sport may occasion- 

 ally be found in May or early in June, when many of the 

 schools that enter the bays and harbors are composed entirely 

 of fish of large size, but in fresh water I do not think, as a 

 general thing, that the average will reach a pound. I have 

 taken them as small as four ounces. 



A Canadian Trout, fresh from the sea, compared with a 

 Brook or Eiver Trout, has larger and more distinct scales ; 

 the form is not so much compressed ; the markings on the 

 back are lighter, and not so vermiculated in form, but resem- 

 ble more the broken segments of a circle ; it has fewer red 

 spots, which are also less distinct. It is more slender until it 

 reaches two pounds, a fish of seventeen inches (including the 

 caudal), after it has been some time in fresh water, weighing 

 only a pound and three-quarters, while a Brook Trout of the 



