A merican Game-Fishes 



a little before he painfully clambered with 

 the gaffer's aid. It is an experience the 

 angler never forgets, but to another it has 

 little meaning. 



The trout of Europe, the trout of Wal- 

 ton, does not exist in our country, save in 

 a few places, mostly preserves, where it 

 has recently been introduced. But when 

 our English forefathers came to New Eng- 

 land they found a fish which so resembled 

 it although more beautiful that they 

 called it the brook-trout ; and brook-trout 

 it ever will remain, although the strictness 

 of science says it is no trout, but a char. 

 But, as Jordan remarked, " Nothing higher 

 can be said of a salmonoid than that it is 

 a char ! " The determining distinction 

 lies in the formation of one of the bones 

 of the head, and would escape any one but 

 an anatomist. There are in our country, 

 however, real trout. Such is the Rocky 

 Mountain, or red-throated trout (Salmo 

 mykiss} 9 3. good fish, and much more worthy 

 of introduction into new waters than the 

 rainbow trout (S. trideus), which a few 

 years back was quite extensively placed in 

 Eastern streams and lakes. The latter is 

 not the peer of our own fish. 



What a lovely creature is this brook- 

 trout ! Stouter than most chars, he is still 



235 



