374 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



game of the pet. It was all life a translucent thing of ac- 

 tion having a dark drab back, barred sides, and seven dots 

 of carmine on each side, which were brighter than any burn- 

 ished metal or precious stone, and about the size of pigeon- 

 shot. It was the most anxious and voracious creature that I 

 had ever captured, and so sat down at once on the bank of 

 Rattling Run to sketch this liveliest specimen of fish kind 

 that I had ever seen. During the month of August parr of 

 the last fall and winter's hatch take their places on the reefs, 

 and nip the wings of flies intended for their parents; especial- 

 ly is this so of the part of the shoal intended to visit the sea 

 with the next spring freshets. 



It will be perceived that while this fish has the parr rays, 

 or the horizontal bars peculiar to the parr, its head is taking 

 better form, the mouth apparently not so large, and the white 

 scales are almost beginning to appear; but this parr is not 



A PARR FIFTEEN MONTHS OLD. 



Half the natural length ; proportions natural. 



to visit the sea until it arrives at two years of age or more. 

 Those of the shoal which do not visit the sea until after hav- 

 ing spent two autumns in fresh water develop less rapidly 

 than do such as visit the sea after spending fifteen months in 

 the river. There being no longer a " parr controversy," the 

 next specimen, of the same shoal as this one, will illustrate 

 the difference in the development of those intended to become 

 voyagers on the second spring after their birth. 



This fish, of the same shoal and age as the parr, is the part 

 of the same hatch intended for visiting the sea after remain- 

 ing only one summer in the stream of its birth. Nature, more 

 careful than man in protecting the families of animal creation, 



