i63 



RECREA TION. 



name of St. Maurice to seek them in the 

 deep, rocky caverns among the wooded 

 isles. 



His importunities prevailed, and the next 

 morning 2 of us, with a show of sportsman- 

 like reluctance, laid aside our light rods 

 and flies, for trolling tackle. 



A rocky island, 3 miles distant, invited 

 us to the experiment. A guide rowed us 

 there and then pulled slowly, parallel with 

 the Southerly shore and about 300 feet from 

 it. 



We trolled for 2 hours — from 11 to one 

 — with large minnows, in deep water with 

 waves, raised by a sharp Northwest wind, 

 running too high for our comfort — and this 

 was the result: 



Eight brook trout, Salmo fontinalis, that 

 weighed 31 K pounds. 



Their separate weight was as follows: 



One each of 2, 2^, 3^, sVa, 5 and 6*4 

 pounds, and 2 of 4 pounds each. 



The largest was 24^ inches long and 

 14)4 inches in girth. 



Eight smaller trout, weighing together 

 7)4 pounds. 



Total: 16, weighing 39 pounds. 



In the afternoon another of our party 

 fished on the same ground with the trolling 

 tackle, for an hour, and brought to the 

 camp 5 trout that weighed 18^4 pounds; 

 their separate weight being as follows: 



One, 3 pounds, one, 3J4 pounds, 2, 3^2 

 pounds each, and one, 5 pounds. 



This catch made the total for the day 

 39 trout; weight 57^4 pounds. 



The fishers were satisfied with the result; 

 but the 20 pound trout of the Abenaquis 

 legend, and of the director's dream, still 

 waves his fins in the azure depths. 



RICHARDSON'S GROUSE, DENDRAGOPUS RICHARDSONL 



ALLAN BROOKS. 



Blue grouse and mountain grouse are the 

 names all sportsmen apply to this bird and 

 its near relation, the sooty grouse, of the 

 coast and Cascade ranges. 



This subspecies is distinguished from 

 Richardson's grouse by its darker colora- 

 tion and the presence of a gray terminal 

 bar to the tail. The last characteristic is 

 also shared by the typical species, Den- 

 dragapus obscurus, dusky grouse, which has 

 a more Southerly range. 



All 3 subspecies interbreed where their 

 ranges overlap. They might be considered 

 only climatic races of the one species, were 

 it not for the very different noises they 

 make during the breeding season, and the 

 notable difference in the wrinkled, inflated 

 skin on each side of the neck at this time. I 

 shall only speak of the 2 Northern forms, 

 as I have never come across the dusky 

 grouse in life. 



The breeding note of the sooty grouse 

 (analogous to the drumming of the ruffed 

 grouse) is a peculiar, weird hooting, which 

 can be heard for miles in calm weather. 



At a distance, this sounds like a single 

 hoot, repeated about 5 times with a regular 

 inflection; but when close, one hears a 

 grunt before each hoot. 



The noise resembles the " pumping " of a 

 bittern, especially when the birds are a con- 

 siderable distance away. I have several 

 times heard both birds at once, at an equal 

 distance away, and have been struck by the 

 similarity. 



The ventriloquial powers of this bird are 

 known to all Western sportsmen. I have 

 often spent half a day trying to locate the 



tree from which the hooting came. Some 

 hunters claim that pressing your ear to the 

 tree will often decide the particular one the 

 bird is in. 



While the hooting is in progress, the skin 

 on each side of the neck becomes thickened 

 and corrugated, and of a bright yellow 

 color. At every hoot 2 large orange-like 

 bulbs appear on each side of the neck, 

 which is swelled to an enormous size. 



In the case of the inland form (Richard- 

 son's grouse) these conditions appear in a 

 much reduced form. The skin is only 

 slightly thickened and rugose, and is dull 

 reddish instead of yellow. 



As might be expected from this, the 

 breeding note is different from that of the 

 sooty grouse. It consists of a single hoot 

 followed by a tremendous whirring of the 

 wings, which resembles nothing so much as 

 the noise of 3 or 4 horses going at full gal- 

 lop over a short wooden bridge. I have 

 sometimes heard "a faint, subdued hooting 

 also, resembling that of the sooty grouse 

 on a very small scale. This can only be 

 heard a few'yards away. The bird evident- 

 ly relies on the tremendous whirring he 

 makes with his wings to attract the atten- 

 tion of the females. 



These birds are essentially mountain lov- 

 ing species and are seldom found on flat 

 land. Rough, broken country, covered with 

 rocky " kopjes " and without heavy tim- 

 ber, is their favorite resort. They are also 

 found on the heavily wooded mountain 

 sides of the coast range, where their hoot- 

 ing, on a summer's day, seems to shake the 

 heated air. Later in the season, they range 



