DAYS IN THE OPEN 



when a dark form darted towards them with open 

 jaws, and, with one snap, his neighbour was cap- 

 tured and carried away. This foray caused great 

 excitement in the trout colony, and the Bully 

 learned for the first time of the existence of rapa- 

 cious animals frequenting the banks of the river 

 which made their living by capturing unwary trout. 

 The following summer he spent in exploring the 

 river above the point where the brook joined it. 

 Here there were hills crowding close in on either 

 side of the river, and rapids were numerous and 

 strong. Practice in rushing up the swift water 

 brought his muscles to such a state of development 

 that every now and then he would spend half an 

 hour in jumping out of the water as far as he 

 could. In fact he entered a jumping contest held 

 under the auspices of the Hemlock Point Trout 

 Club late in July, and carried off the first prize, an 

 enormous blue-bottle fly. The judges on this occa- 

 sion decided that his jump was two and a half times 

 his own length which would probably make it some 

 twelve inches. It was during this summer that he 

 became expert in taking game on the wing. There 

 is a tradition among the Oswegatchie trout that on 

 one occasion, with a favourable start, he pulled 

 down a " devil's darning-needle " that was flying 

 eighteen inches above the surface of the water and 

 going at the rate of sixty miles an hour. N. B. 

 This is merely a tradition and is unsupported by 

 trustworthy historical evidence. 



