456 Reminiscences of 



ence, yet they exist in large quantities. Rarely — in 

 fact I have never heard of but one or two instances 

 where they have been caught with bait, and that in deep 

 water. They are strictly denizens of the deepest parts 

 of the lakes, and apparently subsist exclusively upon 

 ground feed. This ground feed of the lakes is an import- 

 ant element with all fish, composed of insectivorous var- 

 ieties and largely viscous matter, which settle profusely. 

 In the latter part of the month of October — from the 

 2oth to the 30th — the blue-backs find their way to the 

 mouths of some streams, and ascend more or less into 

 the quick water, where they deposit their spawn. Their 

 appearance can be counted upon by the 24th almost to 

 a day, and the quantity assembled is immense, and in 

 some instances so compact is the mass that barrelsful 

 can be netted from a small space. During the brief 

 period of spawning they are easily taken after dark 

 from the shallow quick water by one wading among 

 them equipped with a lantern and a hand net. I have 

 often taken several hundred of them upon an occasion 

 of this kind. Their tenacity of life I have noted as a 

 peculiar feature, for I have had them out of water for 

 several hours of a cold evening and fully revived some 

 of them by placing them in a barrel of fresh water, 

 where they have survived for several weeks, and in fact 

 would have survived much longer but for the freezing 

 up of the water. This fish would undoubtedly stand 

 solid freezing under favorable conditions equally well 

 if not better than the Fontinalis. The only one I ever 

 saw out of season I picked up some years ago on the 

 surface, which was in a dying condition, having been 

 wounded evidently by a loon, as evinced by a large 

 hole through its body. 



