168 FISH. 



The Sierra Madre range, representing the southern portion of the 

 Reserves, is cut by the rains and melting snows into myriads of canyons, 

 ■whose sides are well wooded or covered with chaparral; and hardly a 

 canyon, with its high beetling cliffs, but is a river of verdure, a source 

 of delight to the stroller. These trout streams rise high in the range, 

 often twenty miles in its very heart, and flow on over polished rocks 

 and boulders beneath the sycamore, bay and pine; now out into the 

 open, by masses of wild lilac and California holly, heavy with its 

 bunches of vivid red berries 



In ascending such a stream the trail winds across it again and again, 

 and it is not in the deep pools that we shall always find the largest 

 fish, but along shallows. Here is the home of the rainbow trout, — ■ 

 Salmo irideus, — a marvelous creature in blue, silver and red, rang- 

 ing up to six pounds and more. This is the common trout of the Coast 

 Range and of the Sierra Nevada mountains. About it there is a little 

 mystery. Some affect to believe that it is merely the young of the Steel- 

 head, while others contend that it is a distinct species. The existence 

 of this fish is seriously threatened by over zealous anglers who fish for 

 numbers alone and who take out the small fry by thousands every 

 year. 



The largest trout of the southern portion of the Reserves is the 

 steel head, — Salmo Gairdneri, — a magnificent creature, attaining at times 

 a weight at times of twenty pounds, and leaping when hooked four or 

 five feet in the air. In the Santa Ynez it finds Its way forty or fifty 

 miles up into the range to spawn. It is a most attractive fish in ap- 

 pearance, having a rich olive-hued back, sides gleaming with silver, 

 while the head, fins and tail are dotted with black. In Southern Califor- 

 nia the Santa Ynez and the adjoining streams are its favorite haunts; 

 where excellent sport is had in early spring, the fish coming in at 

 this time to spawn 



In the Kern river, which rises in the Forest Reserves, is found 

 an ally of the rainbow trout — the kern river trout (Salmo irideus Gil- 

 bert!). It attains a weight of seven or eight pounds; is dotted with 

 pronounced spots of black, while older individuals have splashes of 

 orange on the under jaw. In the very heart of the Forest Reserves, on 

 the slopes of Mount Whitney, and living in the cold waters of the melt- 

 ing snowbanks, the most beautiful of all these fishes, the Golden trout, 

 < Salmo irideus agua-bonita), is found. It seems to be confined to the 

 streams on the west flank of Mount Whitney, tributary to Kern river, 

 and is especially abundant in the south fork of Kern river and Volcano 



