and the Maritime Provinces. 



93 



Although the mink is very destructive among trout, I doubt if he is 

 more injurious on a stream than the common sheldrake. This bird breeds 

 everywhere in Northern New England, and in the wooded sections of the 

 Provinces, and the old birds with their family of ten or twelve young, 

 destroy incredible numbers of fry in a summer. A half-grown bird was 

 once found, on examination, to contain seventeen salmon fry in its stomach, 

 and it has been estimated that a family of them will kill upwards of a 

 thousand fry, or other small fish, in a day. My advice to proprietors of 

 salmon streams and trout preserves, is to discourage as much as possible 

 the presence of the sheldrake in their waters. Many owners offer their 

 wardens or river keepers a bounty for their destruction, and even the king- 

 fisher is not spared by some. 



Photo, by W. L. Underwood. 



Following the Windings of a Forest Stream. 



Eels are also very destructive to trout ; they are very expert fish 

 catchers, much more so than most persons are aware ; and I recently 

 heard of an owner of a trout pond being obliged to set a large number of 

 eel traps in his waters, in order to save his few remaining trout from exter- 

 mination, so rapacious had the eels become. 



On our return to camp we found that the smoker was completed and 

 already in use, so expeditiously had the men done their work. The salmon 

 and large trout had been split and salted, and were now hanging in the 

 dense smoke, their bodies being extended to their full width by several 

 "stretchers," made of sticks pointed at both ends being thrust into the fish 

 at the edges of their bellies. 



