A NOVA SCOTIAN TROUT LAKE 



33 



birch-bark canoe delightful trips can be made by such lines of 

 water communication, and the most hidden penetralia of the wilder- 

 ness can be easily invaded and explored. 



To the typical lake of the wilds, tributary brooks come merrily 

 dancing down from far back in the wooqls ; shaded by dark firs 

 and hemlocks, full of little falls and rapids, eddying round great 

 rocks which stand out from the stream, capped with ferns and lichens, 

 unde loquaces lymphce desiliunt. Frequently the flashing stream 

 expands into a long stretch of amber dead-water, broadly margined 

 with sweet green levels meadows of rank grasses waving luxuri- 

 antly enough to suggest a western prairie. Often the brook 

 forms gravelly pools and eddies which closely resemble a salmon 

 river in miniature. 



The very best cast is usually from some rocky rampart not at 

 a great distance from the ' run in.' From such a stand I took the 

 1 big 'un/ which turned the scale at four pounds and a shade over. 

 It was a long and doubtful contest. The oblique rays of the evening 

 sun were slanting across the gentle wavelets, throwing deep shades 

 from the big grey boulders over the darkening water. 



The cast of flies hung nicely to my fancy. The trout ' Admiral ' 

 sailed on the delicate trace a few feet ahead of a well-tied ' Nixon,' 



PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE. 



and with an artistic turn of the wrist I sent them like thistledown a 

 few inches from the spot where I had seen the ' big 'un ' feeding. 

 For, as large trout often do (and small ones never), I had seen him 

 in a very leisurely manner lift his head, then dip it slowly, showing 

 his black dorsal and tail quietly for a brief second, without dis- 



F.C. 



