510. 



NORTH AMERICAN PAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



be identical with the common one of the Yukon. McConnell, on the 

 authority of John Reid, mentions that one was taken near Fort Prov- 

 idence some years ago.* Pere Giroux told me that perhaps three or 

 four were taken at Arctic Red River, among thousands of wliitefish, 

 in the course of the autumn. John Firth also informed me that 

 salmon like those found in the Yukon are occasionally taken in Peel 

 River. 



Cristivomer naymacush (Walbaum). Lake Trout. 



This beautiful fish is an inhabitant of nearly every body of water 

 throughout the north, not only in the Mackenzie basin, but in many 

 other of the river systems. Being partial to clear, deep water, it is 

 seldom found in the main rivers, although when these become clear, 

 as is sometimes the case in autumn, numbers of trout find their way 

 thence from the lakes. In the larger bodies of water, lake trout fre- 

 quently attain a weight of 50 pounds, and occasionally even more. 

 They are caught in large numbers and furnish a rich and nourishing- 

 food, but can not be eaten steadily, as they soon pall upon the appe- 

 tite. In the summer season they take a moving bait readily, espe- 

 cially in swift water, but by far the greater number are caught in 

 nets. In winter they seek the depths of the lakes, and are then taken 

 with hooks set through the ice. 



Athabaska Lake, the Eastern and Northern arms of Great Slave 

 Lake, and Great Bear Lake abound especially in these fine trout, and 

 as the water is there beautifully clear the traveler frequently sees them 

 pursuing their prey in the depths, or lying motionless near the bottom. 

 In the swift streams which enter these lakes, and in some which fall 

 into the Arctic Sea, the pools at the foot of rapids are always tenanted 

 by these voracious fish. I found them abundant in the lakes and 

 streams between Great Slave and Great Bear lakes, and along the 

 south shore of that body of water. They took a spoon bait readily up 

 to the last of August, but after that could be caught only in the nets. 

 On September 15, while making a traverse of about 3 miles across the 

 mouth of a deep bay near Manito Islands, we passed a broad level bar 

 covered by only about 12 feet of water, though elsewhere the bottom 

 Avas invisible. On this bar we saw hundreds of large trout, either 

 lying motionless or swimming lazily about. I supposed them to be 

 spawning. Large numbers were being caught by the Indians at Fort 

 Franklin during September. 



A trout taken by Simpson's party at Fort Confidence, Great Bear 

 Lake, measured 4rJ feet in length and 27 inches in girth, and weighed 

 47 pounds.^ Richardson states that Franklin's party, during eighteen 



" Ann. Kept. Geol. Snrv. Canada, IV, p. 74D, 1891. 



^ Narrative Discoveries on North Coast of America, p. 217, 1843. 



