" Cold, those rivers, as the fountains 



From the wilderness that flow, 

 Cold as waters of the mountains, 



Gelid with the ice and snow, 

 There amid the soft abysses, 



Or the river's spring-fresh tide, 

 Gleaming, flashing, leaping, diving. 



Shoals of lordly salmon glide." 



The salmon family is considered the royal branch in tracing the 

 various species of game fish in American waters, and the sea salmon is 

 undisputed king in this line. It is not solely on account of size that the 

 salmon holds this honored position, for the mascalonge would prove a 

 formidable rival in this respect, but it is the combination of game qualities, 

 and particularly that of rising to the artificial fly and fighting for liberty 

 when hooked, with wonderful strength, activity and sagacity, making the 

 result doubtful to the last, that gives such zest to salmon fishing. 



Although the salmon takes an annual outing, so to speak, in the 

 ocean waves, it is practically a fresh water fish from the angler's point of 

 view, as it is born in the clear cold rivers flowing to the sea, and returns each 

 season to the vicinity of its birth place, by instinct as unerring as that of 

 the carrier pigeon. No ordinary obstacle will stop the fish when ascending 

 his native river, and remarkable incidents are told illustrating the endurance, 

 perseverance and acrobatic powers of the salmon in overcoming the 

 natural and artificial barriers of the stream. 



It is now believed by our leading naturalists that " the original habitat 

 of the entire family Salmonidte was in fresh water, and that it is the sea 



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