FOREST AND STREAM. 
Province of Quebec, and made a two days' journey from 
the club house in search of a "red trout with a forked 
tail," said to inhabit one of the lakes in the preserve of 
the club, and I found only the common fontinalis in breed- 
ing colors. From that time to this 1 have heard more or 
less about red trout with forked tails in Canadian waters, 
hut four other trips to Triton Club has not brought any 
red trout with forked tail within the radius of my personal 
observation. That some of the Canadian waters do 
furnish red trout with forked tails. I have proof positive 
in the discovery of the Marston trout, and in another 
trout, the identity of which has not yet been revealed with 
certainty. Also Mr. G. M. Fairchild, of Cap Rouge, Que- 
bec, has sent me the skin of forked tail red trout from 
entirely new waters, so far as I know, for such a fish to 
hail from, and to-day Mr. George Hart, of Waterbury, 
Conn., writes me: "I have just returned from Canada, 
where 1 have been for five weeks. We had awful weather, 
and out of the five weeks, not six days of fine or clear 
weather, and on Sept. 22 at Lake Light it snowed. Had 
fair sport fishing, and visited many of the lakes of the 
Triton Club. Moose and caribou signs were plentiful, but 
we killed no game. In a sniall lake near Lake Light I 
caught a trout that looked like the American saibling, and 
I sent it to Prof. Garman, Museum Comparative Zoology, 
Cambridge, Mass., for identification. It was the most 
beautiful iish I ever saw. I never have seen such coloring 
in a trout. I caught it in deep water, It had a forked 
tail, and the under half of the body was a bright pink, and 
it had scales like a salmon and head not like a trout or 
any other fish I have ever seen. Garman writes that he 
will report soon on what it is. I caught trout up to slbs. in 
weight. 1 went away sick, and although the weather 
was the worst I ever encountered, and I was most of the 
time in a tent, I came home feeling finely, in good health, 
and was hungry as a bear all the time, and I hope to keep 
in this condition until spring, when I will try it again." 
Lake Light, near where the forked tail trout was caught, 
is on the Triton Club tract nearly north of the club house, 
and I sought the forked tail red trout at a much greater 
distance away at the south and east. Another of the 
forked tailed' red trout came from a lake south of the 
Triton Club, and still another from waters between Que- 
bec and Montreal, and to the north, and other forked 
tail red trout have been found south of the St, Lawrence. 
I did not intend to say anything about these red trout at 
present, as the whole matter is under investigation so far 
as it can be investigated with the limited materials at 
liand, but if specimens of the fish could be obtained, not 
a single fish from each locality, but several specimens, the 
matter could be settled beyond question, for it is risky at 
best to attempt to classify a fish from a single example. I 
have not yet seen a specimen that it was safe to pronounce 
a saibling from the skin or single fish in decayed con- 
dition. It may prove that the Marston trout is more 
widely distributed than is now known, or it may prove 
that some at least of the fish are Stagnalis, but Avhat is 
wanted is specimens of the fish in condition to be ex- 
amined and not skins or outlines on bark or written de- 
scriptions. Seven different people have held out induce- 
ments that they would procure specimens of the forked 
tail red trout, a sufficient number to remove all doubts 
as to species, but as yet not one has procured the speci- 
mens. 
Preserve Specimens. 
If those who fish the waters where the fish are to be 
found would provide themselves with formaldehyde for 
preserving the fish they would materially aid the 
ichthyologists who are waiting to tell us just what the 
fish may be. Formaldehyde is a solution similar to for- 
malin (and that will also serve the purpose), and comes 
in 40 per cent, solution, and is diluted with twenty times 
its own bulk with water. One pint of formaldehyde (or 
formalin) with the water added will make tAventy-one 
pints of preserving fluid. Put the fish in the solution, 
where they should remain a few days, and then they can 
be taken out, wrapped in cloth and shipped and kept for 
months. The solution is irritating to the eyes and nostrils 
from evaporation if the operator works over it long, but 
this is the method in vogue at national museums for pre- 
serving fishes when it is desirable to preserve their colors. 
A. N. Cheney. 
The Ways of Trout. 
At one of the best of Canadian club preserves the 
experience with trout this summer has been a singular 
one, and it will be interesting to all of the club mem- 
bers if some one of your readers who is posted on the 
habits of brook trout will explain the phenomenon. 
The fishing of this preserve is in a large number of sniall 
lakes, which are unusually well stocked, and the mem- 
bership being small, with the daily catch limited to 
twenty-five fish for each rod, it has been very evident that 
the trout have been rapidly increasing for the past few 
years. The spring fishing was all that could be desired, 
and if any one failed to reach the limit each day it was 
something remarkable. The first few days of August 
were of the same kind — the fish rising well to the flies 
and the sport first class. There came a sudden change, 
and from that time to Sept. IS it was surprising if any 
one came in after a day's fishing with a half-dozen. It 
was only by hard and patient work that enough were 
taken to supply the table at the club house. Such 'a 
state of affairs has never been known in previous sum- 
mers, and it really looked as if the fish had suddenly 
emigrated to some other waters. The conditions did 
not appear to differ from those of preceding years, but 
work as they, might the best anglers of the party came 
in day after dav with little or no catch, and often without 
so niuch as a' nibble by way of encouragement to try 
^i^ain. 1 
I always make it a point to examine' the fish when thev 
are dressed, in order to learn what they are taking for 
food. During the four weeks all of the fish takeii were 
very thin and lanky in appearance, and not one of them 
had the least evidence of food in it, and the stomach? 
were contracted, apd with two or three exceptions ner- 
fectlv white and clean-— the exceptions contained a 
small quantity of green vegetable substance. The two 
layers of fat which are always present in ordinarv times 
^'gre fptirely gon?, pnd the fis}] appeEired to he jn a 
starving condition; The water was very warm, having a 
temperature at the surface and near the shores as high 
as 70 degrees during the hot days, and not below 66 
degrees at night or when the days were cool and wind 
strong. 
At last there came what we hoped was the grand 
change, and the idea that there were no trout was 
suddenly put to flight, for one evening, from 6 o'clock 
until dark, every lake seemed to be in a boil with jump- 
ing fish, and the sport was fast and furious. Anything 
that had any resemblance to a fly was seized as quickly 
as it struck the water, and all who were fortunate enough 
to be out at that time had as lively an hour as could 
be desired. 
The writer, with three others, was in camp several 
miles from the club house, and we fell asleep on the 
balsam spring beds full of expectations of a great day 
coming, which became a certainty when we turned out 
at daylight, finding everything white with a heavy frost, 
and went to the shore for the morning ablution. The 
air was decidedly sharp and chilly, but the water felt like 
a warm bath. We paid little attention to this, however, 
for a matter of far greater interest was the sight of thou- 
sands of trout rising all over the lake. We hurried 
through breakfast, and were soon out in the canoes, only 
to find that the fish had done the same thing, for not a 
fin did any one of us raise for the rest of the day, until 
again in the evening there was another lively hour. After 
that day, however, the same old programme was resumed, 
and the fishing was as bad as ever, and continued so 
up to the time we came away. 
Now, what was the cause of this long period of fasting 
on the part of the trout? Not the want of food, for 
there was any quantity of flies on the water, and 
swarms of minnows in it, and if any one can explain 
wdiy for over a month the fish gave themselves a period 
of starvation in the midst of plenty, and at the same time 
treated us with a most disappointing experience in 
angling for them wdth every known device and all of the 
skill we could command, it will be, as I said, a most 
interesting bit of reading and information. It has since 
been learned that the same state of affairs was found 
all through the various club preserves in the Laurentian 
district, above Quebec. 
Here is another question: Many of the fish taken last 
May were full of spawn, the eggs being large and to 
all appearances just as they are in the fall, when the 
fish are seeking the spawning beds; were these eggs 
carried through the winter, or is it a common thing 
for trout to spawn in the spring months? It was ob- 
served that the spawn was found in none but large fish 
of nearly slbs. weight or over. B. 
Available Trout Waters. 
Many hundreds of fishermen come to Canada from all 
parts of the United States each year, and many thousands 
of fish are taken, but there is still a country to the north 
here w^hich is as unknown to the average fisherman to- 
day as was the Grand Discharge and all the Lake St. John 
region twenty-five years ' ago. 
The territory referred to is that part of the Laurentian 
Mountains north of Montreal, and extending back across 
the head waters of the Ottawa, and so on to James Bay. 
But there is no necessity of extending one's travels to a 
point so distant as this. The Canadian Pacific Railway 
has a branch road which extends northward to Labelle, a 
point sixty miles from Montreal. Step off at any station 
within twenty-five miles of the northern terminus of the 
line and make your way east, west or north and ypu are at 
once in a country of fish. 
Do not attempt to look for anything like a complete map 
of this territory, for the very simple reason that none 
exists. Within a few miles of the railway line, on each 
side, an endeavor has been made to fill in the blanks upon 
the map with lakes, rivers and mountain ranges, but even 
these are very incomplete. Some day, perhaps, the 
Provincial Government will send in a party of engineers 
with the idea of giving them a few years of constant em- 
ployment, jotting down a description of the country, but 
that day is yet far distant. 
The lumbering industry, which was the main reason 
for the railway's construction, has only tapped the very 
edges of this vast wilderness, while the French-Canadian 
farmer is just beginning to settle down beside the streams 
in the valleys near by. With the exception of these few 
habitants, and the small towns which have grown up be- 
side the railway track, there is but one place of any size. 
This is Ste. Agathe, which is situated some forty-five 
miles from Montreal, and is much frequented by Montreal 
people during the summer months. With these exceptions 
this vast district is as absolutely without inhabitants as 
when the pioneers of the great fur companies passed 
through it on their northward way, upward of a hundred 
years ago. . 
The network of mountam streams, rivers and lakes 
which nestle in these Laurentides (the geologists tell us 
it is the oldest rock formation on earth) are absolutely 
beyond calculation. Of course the lakes within easy dis- 
tance of the railway are knowm, and in a number of cases 
locally celebrated for the fish they contain, but beyond 
the comparatively few Montreal sportsmen who frequent 
the country, and the native habitant, who indulges in a 
fish occasionally, the trout is left alone in his mountain 
lair. And such trout ! Here is a lake fed from moun- 
tain streams and within an easy half-day of the rail- 
way. It winds in between the mountains and is perhaps 
a quarter-mile wide by three miles long. Try it from 
the 'jhort — a boat is not a necessity, only it is an accessory 
so far as comfort is concerned. One cast of the line — snap 
— you have two fish on your leader. One will go 5^. while 
the other weighs not an ounce less than 2lbs. In this lake 
thf- trout run as high as 3^41bs. As to the fly on the line? 
Why, any fly will do— and so will a worm, a caterpiller or 
a urasshonper. It's all the .same to them. 
Tn this lake there is absolutely nothing but brook trout 
—not a chub, nor even a minnow — and judging from the 
ii-^"t themselves, one would say that they began life at a 
Utile less than ^Ib. in weight. The fact of the matter 
"^('ip'^ to be that the trout while small remain up the 
' t'-eams which feed the lake, and only. venture down when 
of '■efficient size to take care of themselves. No one ever 
caught a better bred or han4s<?pier l)rook trotlt iti any 
Adirondack stream, and it would be a poor day's fishing 
that would not give you a hundred such fellows. 
The particular lake referred to is leased from the Gov- 
ernment of the Province for the sum of $10 a year, and the 
five gentlemen who have secured the right have also the 
leases of six smaller bodies of water all within a radius 
of three miles. The method of forming a small fishing 
club has been found by experience to be the most efficient, 
and at the same time the inexpensive means of taking a 
holiday during the spring and autumn months. The 
French-Canadians m the neighborhood, who are woefully 
poor and glad indeed to work for a dollar a day— never 
having been introduced to the lavish methods of American 
sportsmen — ^will construct a modest log house sufficient 
for all needs for a matter of $50 or $60. This is then 
furnished with the necessary bed clothing, cots and cook- 
ing utensils. To this you must add a couple of boats of 
the flat-bottom variety, built at a cost of about $10 each 
right here in the neighborhood. Or ir you prefer a birch 
bark canoe, that is also obtainable. A convenient farmer, 
who can drive you to and from the railway station, as well 
as furnish you vegetables at short notice, is duly appointed 
,guardian. For a reasonable sum he looks after the hotise 
for you and sees that not too many people fish on your 
lakes without permission. 
In this manner a small-sized club can, after the first 
co.st, obtain magnificent fishing at a sum not to exceed 
$TO a year each. In the club I have mentioned the cost is 
a trifle above this figure, owing to the number of lakes 
under lease. 
Though as yet I have only referred to the brook trout, 
one must not go away with the impression that these 
waters hold nothing else. As a matter of fact, there are 
lakes here which contain gray trout in any quantity^ — and 
these fellows run all the way from 2 to islbs. each. Then 
again, there are lakes which have bass and pickerel, and 
big lusty fellows they are. 
There are hundreds of just such bodies of water as I 
have described, all witliin a day's journey of the city, and 
while most of the unused ones, and I might say undis- 
covered ones, are at present hard of access, owing to the 
undergrowth on the mountains, this can be remedied m h 
short time by a couple of lively axemen, who will cut you 
a trail from the nearest road. 
One thing which must be taken into consideration, and 
which will prevent fishing through midsummer, is the 
mosquito and the black fly. LTp to July 15 these pests are 
not ordinarily troublesome, but from that date until 
Sept. I it is well to give the country a wide berth. Eveit 
with these disadvantages there is probably no other place 
in Canada where good sport can be had so near civilization 
and at so moderate a cost. C. F. Paul. 
Trout Fishing on Rapid River 
in 74. 
It should be understood at the start that Gethro was an 
old hand at fishing, and naturally when it came to the 
question of a honeymoon I followed him into his favorite 
haunts. Umbagog Lake being his first choice, we started 
from Bethel, Me., one warm morning in August for 
Upton, a drive of twenty-eight miles, and one of the 
finest in the country. We follow Bear River for miles 
in and out among the hills, stopping to see the wonderful 
Screw x\uger Falls and Moose Cave. Then a climb to 
Grafton Notch, with Saddleback Mountain on one side 
and Goose-eye on the other, filled me with admiration'; 
but the climax was B. Hill, two miles from Upton. 
Nothing out of doors could be grander than that view. 
We arrived at Upton in time to take passage on the 
little steamer Diamond for Umbagog, and had a delight- • 
ful sail tip the lake. We landed at Sunday Cove to fish 
for big trout; there was a deep hole in the lake near 
Sunday Cove, from which Gethro the year before had 
taken a 4lb. trout, but now the fish had all left for parts 
unknown. W'e spent the day rowing to different points, 
trying our luck — ^\vithout success, however. At 3 o'clock 
we got on the steamer again, intending to go back to 
Upton for the night, as all our baggage was there. _ The 
steamer was anchored at Cedar Stump, and the engineer, 
who was guide as well, had gone with Mr. E. E. Stead- 
man to Smooth Ledge to see if they could catch the big 
trout that had run off a few days before with a silver- 
doctor and several feet of leader in his mouth. At 5 
o'clock Mr. Steadman and his guide came down the 
t;arry with a fine string of trout. Such a_ string I had 
never seen before! I was so excited I insisted I would 
not return to Bethel without a string equally as large, 
especially as Gethro was called a champion fishermas. 
In those days we had to walk a four-mile carry, which 
was a mass of boulders, covered with green moss. The 
trees had been cut, otherwise it was as nature made it, 
and such terrible walking never was known! The guides 
tried to discourage me, but I was determined I could walk 
the carry, for I knew the trout w^ere at the other end. 
A guide came down from Middle Dam to take passage 
on the steamer for Upton; we persuaded him to return 
with us, so a small rowboat was left for us at Cedar 
Stump, and vfe started for Middle Dam— Mr. Steadman 
and his trout for the return trip to Bethel. Gethro 
stopped at the Hop Yard and cau.ght a few trout, then 
at Smooth Ledge (another trout pool on Rapid River) 
he caught eight beauties. Trout are said to be more 
brilliant in that water than in any other pool on the 
river. 
We arrived at Middle Dam Camp a little before 8 
o'clock, tired and hungry, but not too far gone to feel 
interested in a smudge at the end of the piazza, over 
which stood. the horse and cow, to rid themselves of the 
mosquitoes, which pest reigned supreme at that season 
After regaling ourselves with one of Asa Frosts de- 
licious suppers 7he Avas a fine cook), we sat by a large 
open fire, while the men had their evening smoke, and 
planned the morning work. We agreed to get up at 4 
o'clock and go down to the Dam. I had been in bed 
about five minutes, it seemed to me, when there was a 
rap at the door, and our guide said it was 4 o clock. 
T insisted his watch was wrong and I would not get up 
for all the trout in B. Pond (and there were many in those 
days), but Gethro knew it was the early bird that caught 
the trout, as well as worm, and he w^ent down to the Dam 
to get the big string of trpt^t we had iji^alkfed ?9 far t(> 
