Miscellaneous Suggestions. 351 



we had him in clear water. He was a fighter, and for 

 some twenty minutes we played the game of give and 

 take, till at last he lay exhausted in the landing - net. 

 The spring-balance was produced the identical one used 

 when he was originally taken in his native home and 

 the four-pound mark was plainly visible as he hung sus- 

 pended thereon. It was a male, so we knocked him on 

 the head. 



" John, do you suppose it is possible we can have struck 

 that two-and-a-half pounder? It seems incredible that 

 even then he could have increased a pound and a half in 

 sixteen months." 



John replied, " I hardly think it can be. My recollec- 

 tion is that fish was a female ; still I am not sure. At 

 any rate, even if it is, it shows a much quicker growth 

 than I was prepared for. There were certainly two there, 

 perhaps there may be more. Let's try again." 



Once more the canoe stole up towards the sunken birch- 

 es. A cast, and nothing came; a second, and the fly was 

 taken. The same tactics produced a like result, and a fe- 

 male of three and five-eighths pounds was ours. We re- 

 stored her to the water. 



" There, John, that will do; let's go home." 



But John was not satisfied. He must have just one 

 look to see if there were others there, and what they were 

 about. So we approached with caution, and when about 

 twenty feet from the sunken birches I saw a trout, ap- 

 parently of the same size as those we had already taken, 

 swim in among the snags and disappear. 



" John, did you see that fish ?" 



"No, where? For Heaven's sake, just look there !" 



This form of expression, so unusual for him, and the ap- 

 parent excitement with which it was uttered, startled me. 



