i:;s 



With Rod and Gun in Nezv England 



killed in Lake Champlain, and on the Connecticut river, but it is there only 

 as a wanderer. In most of the Western States it is one of the most abun- 

 dant of water-fowl. It feeds on various aquatic plants and seeds and is a 

 table delicacy. In the Southern States it is very abundant, and great num- 

 bers are shot in the rice-fields, which it frequents in search of food. As 

 you are aware, it is the original of the common domestic duck. 



" Like the dusky duck, if much hunted it becomes very wary and 

 difficult to approach." 



At this juncture a large trout seized one of my flies and in a moment 

 another took the drop fly. 



" That's a fine pair," said the Doctor, when after a few minutes' fight 

 they were landed by Francois. 



" Yes," I replied, as I weighed them after they were killed, " three, and 

 two and a half pounds ; they are beauties, and almost as highly colored 

 as autumn fish." 



I have noticed many times that when one good fish is hooked another 

 will hover around it until it is landed. So well known is this habit of the 

 trout that when two or three veteran fishermen are together, if one hooks a 

 large fish the others keep their flies in motion around it until it is landed, 

 and one of them almost always succeeds in getting another good trout. 



For a time we were kept busy, the trout rising in numbers at every 

 cast. In an hour or two we saved a dozen or fifteen handsome fish that 

 would average fully a pound in weight, putting back into the water a large 

 number of smaller fish ; when they refused to rise, and although we tried 

 industriously to tempt them, we were finally obliged to reel up our lines and 

 turn our canoe towards the camp. 



The Spotted Queen of the Waters. 



Every angler has had many similar experiences, and knows how capri- 

 cious and fickle the spotted queen of the waters is. Sometimes a slight 



