BROOK TROUT 



malevolent person writes a book upon the subject, giv- 

 ing to the indiscriminate public the secrets that should 

 be reserved tor the true sportsman and the reverent 

 lover of nature." 



It is not without a careful consideration of the ques- 

 tion in all its aspects that I have ventured to publish 

 my Reference Books. Jealous as I am, in common 

 with all sportsmen, of sportsmen's secrets, and re- 

 strained withal by the instincts of self-interest, I should 

 hesitate to reveal them, were it not that concealment 

 is no longer a virtue. The considerations that permit 

 publicity are these : 



In the first place, the several great railway routes 

 that have been recently completed or are now in prog- 

 ress — the Intercolonial, the European, and North 

 American, and the various Pacific roads — are opening 

 up to tourists and sportsmen regions hitherto inaccessi- 

 ble. Civilization and its concomitants inevitably fol- 

 low in their train, and hidden places become open as 

 the day. What would the negative force of silence 

 avail to hinder or prevent*? 



There is not much danger of the mosquito swamps 

 and inaccessible fastnesses of the Adirondacks being 

 invaded by " good society." The crowd comes only 

 where the way is made easy, and because it is easy. It 

 follows the natural water-courses and avoids the tedious 

 "carries." It halts where the sporting-houses invite, 

 and selects those which provide the most abundant 

 creature comforts. 



