324 NATURAL HISTORY. 



On their course from the sea they have to run the gauntlet of the 

 fishermen, who take them by the million. The immense canning factories 

 of the Columbia are well known, but a few statistics may prove interesting. 



In 1880 the amount packed was nearly five hundred and fifty thousand 

 cases, each of which contained forty-eight pounds of fish. In 1886 the 

 twine for the nets cost nearly $250,000, and the tin consumed for cans 

 amounted to over sixty thousand boxes. 



As representatives of a third group of the salmons may be cited the 

 lake-trout and the brook-trout. The lake-trout, otherwise known as sal- 

 mon-trout and Mackinaw-trout, may attain a weight of a hundred and 

 twenty pounds. In its different localities it shows great variations. It is 

 important as a food fish, and is caught chiefly in nets in the Great Lakes. 



The brook-trout, on the other hand, but rarely reaches a weight of 

 twelve or fourteen pounds, and then only when it lives in some deep pool 

 where it has plenty of food. In its colors and appearance it is exceedingly 

 variable, and were ichthyologists to follow the example the students of the 

 shells set them, we should have species innumerable. Except in the tribu- 

 taries to the Great Lakes it does not occur more than three hundred miles 

 from the coast. It is one of the most attractive fishes for the angler. It 

 is so cautious about biting if there be anything suspicious to be seen, and 

 yet when it takes hold, it is in earnest. It darts out from beneath the 

 root where it has been lying in concealment and has no toying with the 

 bait, but at once seizes it, and is then quickly packed away in the basket. 



More important, if less gamy, is a representative of still another 

 group of salmon-like forms, — the lake white-fish, which sometimes attains 

 a weight of over twenty pounds. A remarkable, and as yet not certainly 

 explained fact, is the regular migrations it makes in summer to the shore, 

 which cannot be for spawning, for that occurs at another time. They will 

 but rarely take the hook, but are mostly taken in nets, the fall being the 

 best fishing-time. The fish are sold in the fresh state, and are also packed 

 in salt. In the winter large quantities are shipped in a frozen condition 

 to all the region within two or three hundred miles of the lakes. 



The pikes and pickerel and their allies are scattered over most of the 

 earth, excepting our western territories and the islands of the South Seas. 

 Prominent among them comes the large muskellunge of our great lakes, a 

 fish which may weigh from sixty to eighty pounds. It is a gamy fish, 

 and when one takes the hook, the angler may be assured of an abundance 

 of sport. The pike and pickerel, of which we have four, are smaller species 

 abounding through the whole United States. Though their flesh is good, 

 they are not desirable inhabitants of the streams, on account of their almost 



