354 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



cacy of flavor any fish I have ever eaten, for the bright red 

 flesh had a delicate nutty flavor indescribable and, I fear, 

 scarcely imaginable. Our guide, who was also cook and 

 master of camp, used to fry in cream the smaller ones, and 

 I doubt if ever prince or epicure had a dish placed befoi 

 him more worthy of his palate. 



But having given what I know to be, more particulai 

 ly to the naturalist, a far from perfect description of this 

 handsome fish's peculiarities, its habits, as differing from 

 the trout I have known, may have interest. With the arti- 

 ficial fly they were not so readily taken as with minnow or 

 worm. When hooked, I never knew them to spring from 

 the water, and the quiet reach of the pool was invariably a 

 more certain find than the brawling neck. After sunset I 

 never could succeed in capturing them, and the best hours 

 in the day were from sunrise till it commenced to get warm, 

 and the two hours preceding sunset. After these fish had 

 disappeared from the river, I discovered that they could be 

 taken in the deep waters in the lakes, either with minnow 

 or natural fly, the bait being sunk close to the bottom; and 

 the places where I was generally most successful in this fish- 

 ing was where, our guide affirmed, were situated the springs 

 that partially fed these lakes ; his reason for this statement 

 being that this portion of the lake always remained open in 

 winter, while the balance every year froze up. 



Again, after these fish had deserted the river, I had some 

 admirable sport with them by going to the top of the lake, 

 and coining down on the annual lumber-raft. I was put 

 up to this by the guide ; he for years had followed lumber- 

 ing, and the rafts as they floated down, he assured me, were 

 always followed by swarms of trout. His information was 

 correct as to the numbers of fish, but instead of the trout 

 of the river I found my beautiful, brilliant-colored friend. 

 This habit is peculiar, to say the least of it, and untrout- 



