42 THE PROVENCHER SOCIETY 



There are undoubtedly, however, many local races of trout, 

 the same stream often containing dissimilar forms and varieties of 

 coloration; those affecting life in the more rapid water having 

 lithe, trim bodies and long, powerful fins, those found on the shal- 

 lows with gravel bottoms being brightly colored, while those 

 frequenting deep, dark, shaded holes, taking on the darker colors 

 of their surroundings, — nature's protection of them from easy 

 discovery by their many foes. 



The speckled trout has its home between latitude 3i)J/^° and 

 55°, in the lakes and streams of the Atlantic watershed, near the 

 sources of a few rivers flowing into the Mississippi and Gulf of 

 Mexico, and in some of the southern affluents of Hudson Bay. 

 It is abundant in almost every part of the province of Quebec, and 

 some of the largest specimens known to science have been taken 

 in lakes Batiscan and Jacques Cartier, sometimes more than twelve 

 pounds in weight and quite exceeding the record weights of the 

 famous Nepigon river fish. 



1 hey do not thrive well in water warmer than 68" Fahrenheit, 

 though they have been known to live in swift-running water at 

 nearly 75°. When the temperature of the water is below 36° the 

 fish are torpid and refuse to feed. 



When trout have no access to the sea they still contrive 

 to avoid a change of temperature with the seasons. In midsummer 

 they lie in the bottoms of lakes coded by springs, in the channels of 

 streams, or in deep pools, lurking behind rocks and among roots. In 

 spring and early summer they feed industriously among the rapids. 

 At the approach of cold weather in autumn they hasten to the clear 

 shallow water near the heads of the streamlets. It is at this time 

 that they deposit their eggs in little nests in the gravel which the 

 mother-fish have shaped with careful industry, fanning out the 

 finer particles with their tails, and carrying the large ones in their 

 mouths. After the eggs are laid, the parent fish covers them with 

 gravel, and proceeds to excavate another nest. The same nests 

 are said to be revisited by the schools year after year. It will 

 thus be seen that the spawning habits of trout are very similar to 

 those of the salmon. 



I'rout eggs are usually three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, 

 although varying greatly, and are colorless, red, or orange-hued. 

 The quantity yielded by a fish is in direct proportion to its size, 

 being from 500 to 1,500 per pound weight of the mother. I'hey 

 will hatch in one hundred and sixty-five days with the mercury 

 at 37°, one hundred and three at 41°, eighty-one at 44°, fifty-six 

 at 48°, forty-seven at 50°, thirty-two at 54°, etc. After the eggs 

 are hatched the yolk sac is absorbed in from thirty to eighty days, 

 and the young fish begin to lead an independent life. Now the 

 rate of growth is determined by the amount of food consumed. 

 Some two-year-old fish weigh a pound, some half an ounce. 1 hej^ 

 are strong and dainty feeders, and at times quite voracious. Worms 

 washed out of the banks of lakes and rivers, small fish and fresh 

 water crustaceans, water insects, larva, grasshoppers, flics of various 

 kinds and the eggs of fish alike furnish them with food. Their 

 daintiness, shyness, cunning and mettle render them favorites of 

 the angler, who lures them into his creel by many sly devices. 



