SALMONID^. 45 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONID/E. 



THE WHITE FISH. 



ATTEHAWMEG. 

 Coregonus Albus. 



It is very worthy of remark, that this delicious fish is taken abun- 

 dantly, and of the very finest quality, infinitely superior to the fish of 

 Lakes Erie and Ontario, and not inferior to that of Huron and Superior 

 in the small inland lakes of Seneca and Cayuga. 



So far as I can learn, the White Fish is nowhere taken with the fly, 

 unless by pure accident ; and that it is utterly unworthy of the angler's 

 pursuit, as a fish of game, cannot be doubted. The Coregoni, in 

 general, are the most vegetable-eating of all the Salmonida, and rarely 

 take a bait of any kind, although I learn that in Seneca Lake they 

 are occasionally caught on set lines, especially with stale bait. 



I find it stated in Dr. Richardson's Fauna Boreali Americana, that 

 the White Fish runs up the Severn River from Lake Huron, in order 

 to spawn, on the authority of Dr. Todd ; there must, however, be 

 some error in this ; as having visited the Severn this autumn, and 

 canoed up it into Lake Simcoe, I can answer for the fact that it is im- 

 practicable to any fish ; and that having a purely rocky bottom until 

 above the great falls, it possesses no spawning grounds to tempt fish. 

 At the very outlet there is a natural fall or rapid of above twelve feet, 

 with an old Indian mill-dam ; at about twelve miles higher yet, there 

 is a very powerful rapid of about fifteen, and at twenty-five from the 

 mouth a superb rapid and fall of seventy feet descent in about a hun- 

 dred yards of length. 



The Severn notoriously contains no fish except a few sucking Carp 

 of difi'erent kinds, a few Rock Bass, and in the shallow rice lakes above 

 the falls, goodly Mascalonge. 



The best White Fish are taken in the rapids of the Sault St. Marie, 

 with scoop-nets ; but they are also speared by the Indians, and takea 

 in vast quantities with the seine, by the white settlers. 



