BROOK TROUT 



that has yet been described is arrayed in such shades of 

 olive and purple and crimson and gold, as the large 

 specimens of fontinalis found in the cool, clear waters of 

 Northern Maine and the Dominion of Canada. 



Let us carefully examine a newly caught specimen 

 of the Lake Edward trout, fresh from the rapids of the 

 River Jeannotte — the outlet of the big lake — where its 

 monster fish descend in the latter part of August, in 

 search of their spawning-beds. During the heat of the 

 midsummer months we angle in vain for this beautiful 

 creature upon the surface of the water. After the man- 

 ner of his near kinsman, the char of Windermere and 

 Geneva — Salvelinus Alpinus — the gay cavalier seeks the 

 cool depths of the spring-fed lake, whence the most 

 deftly cast flies fail to attract him. Minnows compose 

 his daily menu, and with a cool summer-resort and 

 plenty of good food, he has no inclination to trouble 

 himself with what is disturbing the surface of the water. 

 In the comparatively swift rapids of the picturesque 

 discharge, fontinalis, finding no minnows upon which to 

 feed, is successfully tempted by the fluttering fly to 

 " spring from the deep and try aerial ways." Here the 

 giant specimens of the Lake Edward char, which attain 

 a size rarely to be met in running water, rise freely to 

 the artificial lures which were cast in vain over the 

 bosom of the lake. Here, too, as in the Nepigon and 

 the Montmorenci, at this season of the year, the Ameri- 

 can brook trout is found in his most gorgeous apparel. 

 His whole being is aflame with burning passion and 



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