BROOK TROUT 



and trout are the principal tenants of all forested areas 

 where water spaces occur. When forests disappear 

 the trout disappear, because their food supply is cut off. 

 The same law applies to the salmon. All salmon 

 streams head in the forests, but the incidents of civili- 

 zation have depleted most of the rivers on the Atlan- 

 tic coast. The Hudson, the Connecticut, the Merri- 

 mac, the Kennebec, the Penobscot, and the Aroostook, 

 all salmon streams erstwhile, and many Nova Scotia 

 rivers also, became barren long before artificial or nat- 

 ural obstructions barred their ascent. This postulate 

 of food supply would seem, then, to settle the much- 

 discussed question whether salmon eat in fresh water 

 while on their way to the spawning beds. Insects are 

 their chief sustenance in the sylvan streams, and they 

 eat there to live. It would be inexplicable, indeed, if 

 salmon alone of all creatures were not required by 

 nature to fortify and strengthen themselves for the su- 

 preme work of procreation. It depends, however, 

 upon the length of rivers whether they feed. If the 

 rivers be short, like those of Nova Scotia, Labrador, 

 and Alaska, the run is short, and the necessity of eat- 

 ing minimized ; but in large rivers, like those of New 

 Brunswick and the Pacific side, it is different. 



Other ^rout Food. 



There are some localities like the Great Lakes 

 where insect forms are replaced by other kinds of food, 

 because they are prevalent. Flies are therefore disre- 

 14 



