Oct. ly, lyoi.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
SO© 
done this j'ear on the Missisquoi with nets. On the La- 
moille we encountered something diiferent. Near the 
south bank of that river, about four miles from its 
mouth and half a mile from the West Milton Post Office, 
Vermont, is a place known to the residents of that neigh- 
borhood as the "Sturgeon Hole." Here the main body 
of the river rr.shes through a rocky gorge not over 20 or 
30 feet wide, with precipitous walls of solid rock on 
each side. Just below the gorge is a hole about 45 feet 
deep, apparently shaped somewhat like a boat, in which 
the spawning sturgeon collect, usually very soon after 
their appearance at the mouth of the river, but most prob- 
ably when the water reaches the right temperature for 
spawning. The water is too deep to spear the fish here, 
and nets cannot be used, but the sturereon are taken by 
twitching them up with hooks. We watched this hole 
night and day, after the appearance of the sturgeon at the 
m.outh of the river, and obtained many breeders from the 
"Hole" after they had begun to collect in it, twenty-seven 
being caught on May 22, the temperature of the water 
being 68 degrees F. ' These were all, or nearly all, ripe 
males, but on the afternoon of May 23 two entirely ripe 
females were hooked up. The fish not struggling violently 
at first, the men stopped- the flow of eggs by stuffing their 
handkerchiefs into tihe vent. The fish "were then towed 
across the river, where the males had been secured, and 
were instantly killed by being knocked in the head. Their 
eggs were taken and treated like pike-perch eggs, as to 
impregnating, mixing with milt, rinsing, etc. 
In the meantime a rude hatchery had been constructed 
on the north bank of the Lamoille, with a battery of twen- 
ty-two jars, a short distance from the sturgeon hole. The 
eggs now obtained were all placed in jars, where they ap- 
peared to do finely. The next day the writer took a few 
thousand over to" Ihc hatchery at Swanton, where they 
subsequently hatched out without difficulty. The re- 
mainder were left at the temporary hatchery on the La- 
moille. The hatching water for our battery here was 
obtained from a spring brook which rose, I think, aboiit 
a mile to the north. Before locating the hatchery at this 
point, Air. Green and the writer had many discussions as 
to whether the water in the brook might not get too cold 
for the sturgeon eggs. There was no other supply obtain- 
able, however, with the limited means at our disposal. It 
was "Hobson's choice" — take that or nothing — so we took 
the hatching water from the brook. For a time, the 
weather remained fairly warm, and the eggs did well. It 
was found on examination of the eggs, when the form 
of the fish first appeared in the embryo, that nearly 90 
per cent, of tlie eggs were impregnated. Then there 
came a frost one morning, and the water dropped to 50 
degrees F. The next night there came another frost, and 
the water fell to 45 degrees F., and then the sturgeon 
eggs all died. It was a bitter disappointment. We had 
struggled against great discouragements, and now we 
thought were on the eve of a great success, instead of 
which we were on the eve of a great failure. _ 
A consignment of eggs which had been in the mean- 
time sent to Cape Vincent Station met with the same 
fate, the water of the St. Lawrence used at this station 
being also comparatively cold at this season. 
We afterward discovered a spawning ground of the 
sturgeon on the shore of Lake Champlain, a short distance 
.south of the mouth of the Lamoille. Here is a well-pro- 
tected bay. with a beach sloping very gradually out to 
deep water. In the shallow waters of this bay, in water 
not over 3 feet deep, strange to say. the sturgeon come 
to spawn in the month of June. Here we found them 
spawning in plain .-ight from the shore. We set trap nets 
and gill nets here, and caught many ripe males and several 
.'ripe females the first week in June, but did not succeed 
in collecting any impregnated egg. 
I may add here that the sturgeon eggs that we took 
averaged 850 to the fluid ounce. They are apparently 
amorphous as to shape, and of a dull and dirty color, 
but this appearance is given them by a cobwebby film 
whicl: surrounds each egg. This film can be easily sepa- 
rated from the eggs by squeezing the egg out of it with 
the fingers, and the egg is then seen to be spherical, clear 
and crystalline, like other fish eggs, and not very different 
in size from whitefish eggs, though, perhaps, somewhat 
larger. 
The eggs come very easily from the parent fish when 
they are ripe. They are somewhat glutinous, but if taken 
from a freshly caught fish, they are no more so than pike- 
perch eggs, and if treated as pike-perch eggs are when 
taken, they will give no trouble in sticking together, and 
will easilv hatch out 80 per cent, or 90 per cent, of healthy 
fry. 
The eggs taken to the Swanton hatchery hatched 
in seven days in an average temperature of 65 degrees F. 
Their mobility was so much less than that of pike-perch 
eggs that it took a stream of water running through a 
%-'mch rubber tube with about a 6-foot pressure to keep 
them in motion in the hatching jars. The young fry are 
hardy and very active, but if they are to be confined in 
tanks or troughs, the screening must be very tight, as the}' 
can work themselves through an extremely small crevice. 
Allow me to state in conclusion, as I have already done 
in my annual report to the United States Commissioner 
of Fish and Fisheries, that the following points in regard 
to lake sturgeon and sturgeon hatching may be considered 
as pretty well established: 
(1) The lake sturgeon go up the tributary rivers of 
Lake Champlain to spawn. They ascend different riyers 
at different times, the time for each river appearing to 
be 'determined by the temperature of the water. The 
river that the spawning sturgeon of Lake Champlain first 
ascend is the Missisquoi, in the extreme northwestern 
corner of Vermont. They go up this river very soon 
after the pike-perch have finished spawning in the river, 
which is usually the latter part of April. The largest 
number of ripe fish appeared about May 13. The spawn- 
ing sturgeon wert all out of the river by May 20. 
The Lake Cham.plain sturgeon ascend the Lamoille, a 
Verm.ont river which flows into the lake about thirty 
miles south of the Missisquoi, somewhat later. This 
year their first appearance at the mouth of this river was 
about the middle of May, and they collected in the 
'"Sturgeon Hole" in the greatest numbers for. spawning 
on May 23. They had all left the river by the end of May. 
(2) The lake sturgeon spawn in the shallow waters of 
the lake in June. At least, there is a spawning bed in 
the shallow water of the bay Just south of the mouth of 
the Lamoille, where the sturgeon come to deposit their 
eggs. Parent fish collect in this bay to spawn about two 
weeks later than thev are found in the greatest numbers 
in the "Sturgeon H'ole" of the Lamoille. The largest 
number of ripe ones was observed on June 4. By June 
15 all had left the spawning grounds of the bay. 
(3) As far as we have observed, the lake sturgeon will 
not spawn until the water reaches a temperature of 60 
degrees F. In our experience, on both lake and river, we 
have never found sturgeon spawning in colder water than 
this. We are consequently led to believe that they require 
water at or above 60 degrees F., though, of course, this 
must be accepted 011I3' as an inference. 
(4) The lake sturgeon spawn at various periods later 
than they do in the bay just mentioned, as is evi- 
denced by the fact that we caught parent fish in June with 
eggs that would not have been ripe for a fortnight, and 
others with eggs that would not have ripened for a month 
or longer. 
(5) The parent sturgeon do not seem to ripen their 
eggs well in confinement, unless they are very nearly 
ripe when captured. We found that the eggs of the fish 
that we kept in our pens caked together and otherwise 
became very poor if the fish were too long confined, and 
the eggs would probably not have been susceptible to 
impregnation even if they had ripened enough to be ex- 
truded from the fish. This point must not be accepted 
yet as conclusive, for it is quite probable, I think, that 
means will be found eventually for keeping sturgeon in 
captivity without injuring their egg.s till they are ready 
to spawn. 
(6) The spawning season at the various spawning 
grounds of the lake sturgeon is very short. They are 
doubtless spawning somewhere all summer, but at any 
specified spawning ground I do not believe that they are in 
the act of spawning over three or four days. I have set 
wide limits in this paper to the period that the spawning 
sturgeon remain on their spawning beds, in order to be 
on the safe side, but I think that on a more thorough 
investigation these limits will be very much narrowed. 
(7) Unless some device has been adopted for forcibly 
retaining the eggs in the paren-t sturgeon, it seems to be 
almost useless to attempt to strip a ripe fish after it 
has once been lifted out of the water alive. A few sec- 
onds of time and a few powerful strokes of the tail are 
sufficient to throw all their eggs to the four winds. If the 
eggs are ripe it must be ascertained before the fish is 
taken from the water, or the instant it is lifted from the 
water. The vent can then be plugged, the fish put in a 
strait jacket and the eggs taken without difficulty. We 
adopted various ways of "plugging" the parent sturgeon, 
but after all the most effective way-was to stuff a hand- 
kerchief instantly into the vent, and keep it there. If this 
is done quickly enough it will be a success. If something 
of the kind is not done, or if the ripe sturgeon is given any 
time to struggle, if only for a few seconds, the eggs will 
be lost. 
(8) The eggs of the lake sturgeon, once they are taken, 
are easily impregnated. It has frequently, in fact almost 
always happened, that when a struggling female has been 
found, or when the females have been ripened in confine- 
ment, ripe males for fertilizing the eggs could not be 
found. On the other hand, if the ripe females are cap- 
tured during the three or four days during which they 
are collected on the spawning beds, ripe males will be 
found in abundance.. When we caught the ripe females in 
the Lamoille "Sturgeon Hole," we could have taken a 
quart of milt from the males if it had been necessary, 
(9) The eggs of the lake sturgeon are easily hatched. 
Any of the hatching jars in use for pike-perch and white- 
fish are suitable for the purpose. Run a stream of water 
through the jars with sufficient pressure to keep the eggs 
in healthy motion, and they will hatch without trouble and 
without much loss. It is highly probable that 80 per cent, 
or 90 per cent, of sturgeon eggs taken under favorable 
conditions will be hatched in the future. 
Enemies of the Fishculturist. 
Department of Fisheries and Game, Boston, Mass., 
Oct. 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: All who have en- 
gaged in the work of fishculture have learned sooner 
01 later that "it is not all beer and skittles" to breed and 
rear fish. That this is true has been shown by the ex- 
perience of the superintendents of our fish hatcheries at 
.Sutton and Hadle}', in this State. 
One day not long ago, while Supt. Wtn. A. Tripp was 
engaged in the attempt to sink a well some little dis- 
tance from the hatchery at Hadley, and on the opposite 
side of the building from the pond wherein the brood 
trout are kept, he chanced to turn in the direction of the 
pond and saw a large fish hawk just rising from the 
water with a trout in its claws. The bird had evidently 
taken advantage of its opportunity, when the super- 
intendent was further away from the pond than usual, to 
secure for itself a good meal of spotted trout. How 
manj' times it had previously done the same thing we do 
not know. Anyhow, the depredation was considered of 
sufficient importance for the Commission to promptly 
supply Mr. Tripp with a double-barreled gun to defend 
his charges from similar depredations in the future. Un- 
doubtedly that fish hawk will find it unhealthy to venture 
near the fish pond hereafter. 
In one of the small rearing pools, where Mr. Tripp 
had been endeavoring to raise some trout fingerlings, 
he noticed that the young fish grew less and less from 
day to day, but as there were no dead fish on the bottom 
of the pool he was at a loss to account for the gradual 
diminution. On two occasions he drew the water nearly 
out of the pool in the endeavor to discover .the cause, 
but he could find no trace of anything which would 
give him a clue. But as the trout continued to dis- 
appear, he finally drew the pool down for the third time 
and covered the bottom of it with fine, white sand, 
thinking that might possibly aid him in securing informa- 
tion which he had previously failed to obtain. He was 
correct in this conclusion, for the sand led to the dis- 
covery of two eiels, which were dragged from the mud 
in the bottom of the pool. One was 16 inches long, and 
the other 2 feet, or more in length. The discovery of 
these solved the problem, of the aisappearanc'e of trout. 
While no eels have been seen at Sutton, and fish hawks 
have apparently not attempted the capture of trout there. 
the fish are nevertheless subject to attacks from other 
enemies, despite the watchful care of Supt. Arthur Mer- 
rill. 
One da}-^ recently, while Commissioner Delano and I 
were at the hatchery, a kingfisher, which evidently had 
a longing eye on the young trout in a near-by pool, was 
caught in a trap which had been set for it. 
On the same day a Mr. Wilson, of Worcester, who 
was out to the hatchery for the purpose of securing 
some frogs for scientific purposes, succeeded in killing 
a water snake about 42 inches long and approximately 
5 inches in circumference. This snake was killed in 
immediate proximity to the rearing ponds, near the 
hatchery, where the young trout are being raised 
for breeders. When opened, the snake was found 
to have four trout in its stomach, each ranging from 5 
to 7 inches in length. Two of them were Loch Leven 
trout, one 6^ inches and one 7 inches long, and the 
other two were brook trout. 
Mr. Merrill says that "formerly many of these snakes 
were killed about the upper ponds, but this year they 
have been less plentiful there, and not one has been 
killed. Their absence may account in part for the in- 
creased number of fingerlings in those ponds." 
From the foregoing it is CAddent that one who hopes 
for success in fishculture must not only be skillful in 
his profession, but must also be on the alert to "see 
snakes" and other enemies of his finny proteges, and to 
dispose of them, too, when they are poachers in for- 
bidden waters- J, W, Collins. 
Piscatorial Poetics, 
Olr own inexhaustible Izaak has declared that "An- 
gling is somewhat like poetry: men are to be born so." 
Few will be found to have the hardihood to dispute or to 
deny this; it is a gem of thought, crystalized into a 
sparkling sentence which will remain a classic quotation 
as long as our language shall endure. At the same time, 
it opeiis a field for speculation as to the extent to which 
a kinship may be found to exist linking anglers to poets 
or poets to anglers — ^the angler to poetry or the poet to 
angling. Much traveling to and fro on the ocean of En- 
glish literature would seem to lead one to tlie conclusion 
that after all there is not very much true sympathy be- 
tween the two, and that the combination in one person 
is only rarely to be found, in spite of the fact that con- 
templation is by common consent regarded as a charac- 
teristic of both. Of course our poets, great and small, 
have often found fine food for pretty similes in various 
incidents of the gentle craft, and as a rule have dealt 
skillfully with them. But, on the other hand, it can 
hardly be maintained that fishers who have sought to 
sing the praises of angling have achieved any very signal 
successes. Many piscatorial enthusiasts will doubtless 
condemn this as too sweeping a generalization, and 
will perhaps quote instances by which they hope to dis- 
prove it, but it will nevertheless be found to be true in 
the main. 
Shakespeare, naturally, in this, as in almost everything, 
stands first among poets who have brought into play 
piscatorial pictures, similes, or illustrations to aid in the 
poetical presentment of an idea. Thus in "Antony and 
Cleopatra" (Act II., scene 5), the "Serpent of Old Nile" 
is made by him to say: 
Give me mine angle — ^we'll to the rivei'; there, 
My music playing far off, I will betray 
Tawny-finn'd fishes; my bended hook shall pierce 
Their slimy jaws; and as I draw them up, 
I'll think them every one an Antony, 
And say, "Ah, ha! You're caught!" 
And again, the good gentlewoman, Ursula, in "Much 
Ado About Nothing," enters into the spirit of Hero's 
scheme regarding Beatrice, saying: 
The pleasant'st angling is to sec the fish 
Cut with her golden oars the silver sta-eam, 
And greedily devour the treacherous bait; 
So angle we for Jieatrice. 
Choice samples, these, of how what I take leave to 
saj' is, in its essence, an unpoetical sport, can be poetically 
treated. In Pope's lines on "Windsor Forest" there is a 
charming and vivid little sketch of the angler; 
111 genial spring, beneath the quivering shade. 
Where cooling vapors breathe along the mead, 
The patient fisher takes his silent stand. 
Intent, his angle trembling in his hand; 
With looks unmov'd, he hopes the scaly breed. 
And eyes the dancing cork and bending reed. 
Some of the victims 01 his wiles are thus tersely de- 
scribed: 
Our plenteous streams a varied race supply, 
The bright-eyed perch, with fins of Tyrian dye; 
The silver eel, in shining volumes roU'd; 
The yellow carp, in scales bedropt with gold; 
Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains. 
And pikes, the tyrants of the watery plains. 
Thomson, whose "Seasons" are somewhat out of sea- 
son in these days, and are certainly less read than they 
deserve to be, gives in "Spring" a pretty description of 
trout fishing, concluding: ,. 
But should you lure 
From his dark iiaunt — beneath ihe tangled root? 
Of pendent tret's — the monarch of the brook, 
Behooves you 1h< u to ply your finest art. 
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly, 
And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft ' 
The dimpled v ater speaks his jealous fear. 
At last, while haply o'er the shaded stin 
Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death. 
With sullen plunge. At once he darts along, 
Deep struck, and runs out all the lengthened line; 
Then seeks the furthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 
The cavem'd bank, his old, secure abode; 
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand. 
That feels him still, yet to his furious course 
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 
Acrosi the stream, exhaust hi?, idl* 
