354 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
cacy of flavor any fish I have ever eaten, for the bright red 
flesh had a delicate nutty flavor indescribable and, I fear, 
scarcely imaginable. Our guide, who was also cook and 
master of camp, used to fry in cream the smaller ones, and 
I doubt if ever prince or epicure had a dish placed before 
him more worthy of his palate. 
But having given what I know to be, more particular- 
ly to the naturalist, a far from perfect description of this 
handsome fish’s peculiarities, its habits, as differing from 
the trout I have known, may have interest. "With the arti- 
ficial fly they were not so readily taken as with minnow or 
worm. When hooked, I never knew them to spring from 
the water, and the quiet reach of the pool was invariably a’ 
more certain find than the brawling neck. After sunset I 
never could succeed in capturing them, and the best hours 
in the day were from sunrise till it commenced to get warm, 
and the two hours preceding sunset. After these fish had 
disappeared from the river, I discovered that they could be 
taken in the deep waters in the lakes, either with minnow 
or natural fly, the bait being sunk close to the bottom; and 
the places where I was generally most successful in this fish- 
ing was where, our guide affirmed, were situated the springs 
that partially fed these lakes; his reason for this statement 
being that this portion of the lake always remained open in 
winter, while the balance every year froze up. 
Again, after these fish had deserted the river, I had some 
admirable sport with them by going to the top of the lake, 
and coming down on the annual lumber-raft. I was put 
up to this by the guide; he for years had followed lumber- 
ing, and the rafts as they floated down, he assured me, were 
always followed by swarms of trout. His information was 
correct as to the numbers of fish, but instead of the trout 
of the river I found my beautiful, brilliant-colored friend. 
This habit is peculiar, to say the least of it, and untrout- 
