EARLY EXPERIENCES 15 



son, that the progeny for the year would prob- 

 ably come into being lacking the vitality neces- 

 sary to overcome the attacks of natural ene- 

 mies and disease. A bad spawning season, of 

 course, reduces the hatch for the year, but is 

 ordinarily not noticed by the angler until two 

 or three years later, at which time the unusu- 

 ally small number of immature fish taken be- 

 comes a matter of comment among the fre- 

 quenters of the streams. A native angler who 

 has made it a practice to visit the spawning- 

 grounds of trout for over twenty-five years stated 

 to me that during the season of 1910 the redds 

 were occupied by trout, but that not a fish 

 spawned on any of them in a stretch of nearly 

 a mile of the stream which flows past his home 

 and which was under his constant observation 

 during the entire season. It is difficult for me 

 to believe that such a thing could have been 

 possible, yet I know the man to be a careful 

 and accurate observer, and his statement must 

 be given credence. He seemed frightened at 

 the prospect and alarmed as to the future of 

 the stream, and he besought me for an expla- 

 nation of the condition which I was unable to 

 give. My diary for that year had been de- 

 stroyed, so that I was then, and am now, unable 



