GROWING THE LARGE TROUT. 22/ 



good service at this work, they are perfectly harmless, 

 and will clean the bottom of the pond of whatever food 

 escapes the mouths of the trout. Every trout pond, 

 I think, should contain one or more of them. 



7. Protect from natural enemies. The natural ene- 

 mies of large trout in New England are herons, fish 

 hawks, and minks. Kingfishers are also very destruc- 

 tive to yearlings, and will kill two-year-olds, if they 

 do not eat them. Snakes also prey on yearlings, and 

 will sometimes swallow a two-year-old ; but these two 

 latter enemies are chiefly formidable to yearlings. 

 The best protection against the birds is to cover the 

 pond. A plain rack, made of inch-strips of pine, laid 

 about two inches apart, answers very well for this pur- 

 pose. The birds will not go through the slats for the 

 fish. The rafts which are put on the pond to shade it 

 are some protection against birds, especially t king- 

 fishers ; but herons will stand on the rafts themselves, 

 and with their long necks reach the incautious trout 

 in their hiding-places underneath. Herons have very 

 capacious throats, a passion for fish, and a rapid diges- 

 tion. They are consequently very much to be dreaded. 

 They do their mischief evenings and mornings, but 

 mostly in the early morning ; and as they are not 

 very wary birds, you can, usually shoot them, if you get 

 up early enough. They are waders, also, and, having 

 very long feet, they are easily caught alive, by setting 

 traps in the mud where their foot-tracks have been 

 discovered. I once caught a large blue heron so, with 

 five two-year-old trout in his throat. If you get one 

 alive, and are at all incredulous about their trout- 



