ApRit lis, T903.] 
"FOREST AND STREAM. 
291 
Each of us soon lands a lively, angry bass, slightly 
tmder two pounds. Then we stop and take the picture 
herewith, one mile below Deposit. 
Onward, always onward, and the real fishing begins ! 
The bass are long, slender, like race-horses. Soon a half- 
dozen lie in the canoe. That is enough, and we string 
and trail them in the water, using them as a brake and 
helm to keep the canoe pointed down stream. _ More 
catches with the camera as we admire the noble views of 
river, forest, mountain, cloud and shore! 
Luncheon — fried bass, bacon, coffee, cheese, brown 
bread. The slcy for a ceiling and clouds for frescoes, 
each of their changing aspects seeming to be more ex- 
quisite than the one just vanishing; the hills for the dado 
of our dining room, the birds for our orchestra, our- 
selves for Avaiters ; spring water, and the music of the 
river, ruffled by a breeze that makes each leaf flutter and 
tug at its. anchorage, each twig full of trouble, and the 
boughs all bend to spring back again with happy life! 
And then a long, long run through vanishing hours, 
past little towns, under bridges, close to boats holding 
fellow fishermen; and the inevitable question, "What 
lack?" and again we drift between lovely hills^ the still 
pauses showing as much in the water as above them. 
"Sweet views, that in our world above 
Can never well be seen, 
Were imaged by the water's love 
Of that fair forest green." 
The whole upper Delaware is singularly wild and 
sylvan. Yet railroads and highways make it accessible 
over nearly every mile of its length, with hotels and farm 
houses where mountain hospitality dwells, so real that we 
often had to urge the receipt of the small charges, for ac- 
commodations and supplies. 
It is a region of cloud-views that seem to be unique in 
magnificence. Sky-ranges full of caught and held sun- 
shine, white mist-wraiths along hills, dreamy and far 
vistas opening as Ave approach them ; life-lusty, smiling- 
carnest water flowing and talking to itself, noble salience 
and re-entrance of banks ! Hundreds of tiny dells and 
nooks invited us to stop; springs purled with offered 
v.ater; robins called their "Cheer up! cherries are ripe, 
lip! up! cheer tip!" A pair of bald eagles sailed over the 
hills below Hancock. Red squirrels, warblers, buntings, 
larks and blackbirds scolded in surprise or voiced their 
happiness. This was our experience that evening as the 
canoe was brought to shore, just above Southport, and 
we established our first camp. 
"No wonder the Delaware Indians made this river the 
'center of their possessions,' " I remark. "What a perfect 
place this must have been hundreds of years ago for a 
young Delaware to talk nonsense in Tnjun' to his best 
girl!" 
Then my comrade's rhyming skill appeared. T believe 
he had studied all day on that stanza, getting it ready: 
"Here came, long ago, the Indian maid. 
Awed by the Great Spirit's power; 
And as she knelt by the spring and prayed. 
Each rhododendron flower 
Bent toward her, to kiss the forest belle, 
Whose dusky and blushing face, 
As she worshipped here in this little dell. 
Was the light of the sylvan place!" 
This river Avas the favorite stream of the Delaware 
branch of the Algonquin Indians. Along its lower flow 
they called it Pautaxet. Deeds from them to William 
Penn in 1682 call the stream Mackeriskickon and Zuni- 
koAvay. Some of the sub-tribes called it Pohoqualin, or 
river betAveen two mountains — manifestly referring to its 
passage betAveen Mounts Minsi and Tammany at the 
Gap. Up here on its higher waters the stream was 
knoAA'n as Lamasepose, or Fish River. But it Avas best 
knoAvn as the Lenape-Wihittuck, the name given to it by 
the Confederated Tribes of the Lenape. 
I close this second article of a series by asking careful 
study of the two pictures furnished. Note the grace, 
finish and companionship of the shore plants in the fore- 
ground of one of them. Remember that Avhite is the 
most brilliant color that even the painter can use, and 
that the blue of the sky is really blue fire — throbbing Avith 
faint shadows ahvays, and far more brilliant than the 
whitest paper — and realize how pitifully slight and 
meager at best must be the small picture that the reader 
can entirely cover with either hand — a picture that is 
merely black ink on white paper. Yet observe the sharp- 
ness of the hills on the sky-line, the mystery in the banks 
and masses of foliage on the far shore; and what must 
have been the brightness of the sunset glow in the other 
picture; and the teiiderness and delicacy of the gloom 
as it gathered in the forests of those hills. Besides, in 
the picture are no colors — golden green of sunset on 
foliage, dazzling radiance on rapid Avater, purples and 
mauves and browns -and yelloAVS blending. No bird- 
notes, no sough of wind, no harp of foliage that it stirred 
and caressed, no glancing motion, purl and Avater-oboe 
harmonies ! 
There are no mosquitoes. We did not discover a dozen 
in all that voyage. 
And so, to all fellow anglers and sportsmen, good- 
night. L. F. Brown. 
Shad and Striped Bass on the Pacific Coast. 
As A result of the introduction of shad and striped bass 
on the Pacific Coast by the U. S. Fish Commission the 
yearly catch of each of these species amounts to one and 
a half million pounds, Avhich net the fishermen about one 
hundred thousand dollars. One of the first plants of shad 
made by the Commission Avas carried in an ordinary bag- 
gage car by Mr. Frank N. Clark and Dr. Tarleton H. 
Bean. This Avas in 1876, Avhen aearly one hundred 
thousand lively fry Avere planted in the Sacramento River. 
These had been collected at South Hadiey Falls, Massa- 
chusetts, from the Connecticttt River. Earlier plants of 
shad fry had been made in the Sacramento for the Cali- 
fornia Commission by Mr. Seth Green and Livingston 
Stone. In 1885, and for several succeeding years, shad 
fry were introduced into more northern Avaters, including 
Puget Sound. The species is now found from the Sacra- 
mento to the Sound, but the striped bass as yet is confined 
to the streams of California. Jon. 
The Sea Trout Question. 
Editoy Forest and Stream: 
As stated in a previous letter, had I not verified my 
belief in the identity of the so-called Sea Trout of North 
America Avith the widely 'distributed and universally 
knoAvn Salmo fonlinalis by a study which precluded all 
reasonable probability of error, I should scarcely have 
ventured to combat the opinion of Mr. Charles Hallock. 
This gentleman's writings have been in the hands of 
several generations of sportsmen, and he is acknowledged 
by those competent to judge to be the best living 
authority on all subjects to which he has devoted his 
careful attention and on Avhich he has exercised his acute 
pOAvers of obserA^ation. In his several instructive and fas- 
cinating books which have done so much to create and 
foster a love of genuine sport in the United States and 
Canada, he leaA'^es the impression on the minds of his 
readers that he considered the Sea Trout a species of 
Salmo entirely distinct from fontinalis in tlie same sense 
that it is distinct from Salmo salar. 
In his letter on the subject in your last issue, he ex- 
plains that this Avas hardly his meaning; that he con- 
siders it a distinct variety of fontinalis, though in no way 
differing from this species in its anatomical structure. 
With this opinion I haA^e no fault to find, though I do 
.not, in all points, agree Avith his conclusions about the 
difference in their habits and habitat. He thinks their 
home is the sea, xmd that, like the Salmon, they resort 
to fresh Avater only to propagate their kind. My belief 
is that they are true Brook trout ; that their home and 
proper habitat is the fresh water of our rivers, lakes and 
streams; that they go out to the mouths and estuaries of 
rivers for the greater abundance and variety of food to 
be had there, but that they never go far to sea, seldom 
leave the estuaries of their native rivers, and always 
spend the summer and autumn in their proper home — • 
fresh Avater. There is little to argue about in our differ- 
ing opinions, and as neither of them is susceptible of -ab- 
solute demonstration, I will devote this letter to some 
general observations on the "Sea Trout," and on the dif- 
ferent varieties of undoubted fontinalis which are found 
ill most all of our rivers, lakes and streams. 
So far as the writer has been able to discover, without 
haA'ing opportunity to refer to the great libraries of the 
United States or England, the only writers Avho speak 
ex-cathedra of the Sea Trout are Hamilton Smith, who 
named it Salmo canadensis, but gave little information as 
to its habitat or habits and still less to the specific charac- 
teristics of its phj'siology. Sir Wm. Jardine mentions it 
as a species distinct from fontinalis, but gives no satisfac- 
tory reasons for his opinion. In describing the habits of 
the fish he says: "In approaching the entrance of rivers, 
or in seeking out, as it Avere, some one they preferred, 
shoals of these fish may be seen coasting the bays and 
harbors, leaping and sporting in great numbers, from 
about one pound to three or four pounds in weight, and 
in some of the smaller bays the shoal could be traced 
several times circling round it and apparently feeding." 
Following these, Thaddeus Norris, in his Angler's Book, 
gives a detailed description of the Sea Trout, and in his 
later book, "American Fish Culture," says : "From all my 
researches the only scientific account given of this fish 
is by myself. It is decidedly distinct from the varieties 
of 5". fontinalis which migrate to and from salt water and 
acquire a larger size and darker tinted flesh by feeding 
upon Crustacea found there; nor has it but slight affinity 
to the Sea Trout of Scotland and Ireland. These fish 
come in large schools into Canadian and New Bruns- 
wick streams. On their arrival they are beautifully bright 
and of surpassingly delicious flavor; but, like the Salmon, 
Avhich they precede a month or so, they lose their bril- 
liancy and flesh up to the time of spaAvning, which is in 
October. As far as I have examined them, their stomachs 
are empty after entering fresh water, while an occasional 
Brook Trout taken in the same pool has a well-filled 
paunch. They are, therefore, purely anadromous, and, 
like the Salmon, attain all their growth and flavor at sea." 
From further and more exact investigation, Mr. Norris 
found he Avas incorrect in every statement made above. 
He found, in the writer's company, that these Sea Trout 
never had an empty stomach, but were ahvays ravenous 
in fresh Avater and their stomachs always full of undi- 
gested food of all sorts, from flies to young field-mice. 
The Avriter pointed out to him. that he Avas not the first 
nor the only savant Avho had fallen into the same error 
from hasty and inaccurate observation. He showed him 
that, in 1849, H. Robinson Storer, of the single specimen 
of Sea Trout which he saw at Red Bay in the Straits of 
Belleisle, gave the folloAving luminous scientific descrip- 
tion : 
"Length of head about one-sixth length of body; depth 
of head two-thirds of its length ; greatest depth of body 
directly _ in front of dorsal fin, equal to length of head. 
Upper jaw the longer. Jaws with numerous sharp in- 
curved teeth. Eyes laterally elongated; their diameter 
oiie-third the distance betAveen them. Opercules rounded 
posteriorly; lower portion of operculum naked, marked 
Avith concentric striae; lateral line commences back of 
superior angle of opercle, and assuming the curve of the 
bcdy is lost at the commencement of the caudal rays. The 
dorsal fin commences just anterior to meridian line; Is 
nearly quadrangidar. Adipose fin situated at a distance 
back of the first dorsal little less than one-half the length 
of the fish. Pectorals just beneath the angle of opercu- 
lum; their length three-fifths of the head. Ventrals just 
beneath posterior portion of first dorsal; the plates of their 
base A'ery large. The anal is situated at a distance back of 
the ventrals just equal to the length of head, and ter- 
minates directly beneath the adipose fin; caudal fin deeply 
forked ; its length equal to greater depth of body. Dorsal 
fin, 9 rays; pectoral, 13; ventrals, 9; anal, 11; caudal, 30 
rays." 
Principally on this learned trifling has a new species 
been formed. Savant Storer gave tongue as above, fol- 
lowed by Savants Jardine and Hamilton Smith, and all 
the lesser lights_ yelped in full cry, until to express a 
doubt of this unique Sea Trout is rank heresy in the eyes 
of the Savants, whom I defy to shoAV any substantial dif- 
ference between it and fontinalis when the same profes- 
sional patter is applied to the latter. With trout in 
Nepissiguit and Tabusintac and Storer's luminous 
4^scriptiou before us, we ij^iJed to fijid any substantial 
difference ; certainly not so much as the most casual ob- 
server can see at a glance betAveen the Salmo salar of 
Restigouche, Nepissiguit and Miraraichi. Even the Mil- 
lionaires of the Restigouche Club can distinguish between 
the Salmon of Matapedta and those of Upsalquitch, Pata- 
pedia and Quatawamkedgwick. Mr. Norris frankly ad- 
mitted this on comparing his own description of the Sea 
Trout with the undoubted fontinalis we caught on his 
second Adsit to the North Shore and Tabusintac. I have 
ahvays considered Mr. Norris's death a great loss to 
piscatory science. As he was largely responsible for the 
Avidespread delusion of the Sea Trout myth among Amer- 
ican and Canadian anglers, it is tiiuch to be regretted that 
he died before his more mature convictions were made 
public. 
When Savants tediously describe the colors of fish, 
which they all do ad nauseum under the head "Colora- 
tion," they are simply leading themselves and their 
readers astray and exhibiting to observant fishermen and 
intelligent anglers their practical ignorance. The Old 
Angler never saw two Salmon or two trouts precisely 
alike in color; but he has seen trouts taken from the same 
lake so entirely different in their "coloration" that they 
might well be thought of different species. In Kingston, 
Kings county, are two lakes not far apart; one has a 
bright, white-bellied, brilliantly spotted trout that often 
attains three pounds weight. The other lake, not a mile 
distant, has trout not larger than four to eight ounces, 
which are yellow-bellied and dirty colored on sides and 
back, the vermillion spots barely perceptible, but 
sprinkled thickly from back to belly with minute jet black 
specks, as numerous as if a pepper-box had been shaken 
over them from head to tail, the specks not larger than 
finely ground coffee. The speckled fish from the low, 
SAvamp}' lake, if placed in the clear Avater of the higher 
lake, soon lose these minute black spots ; the vermillion 
spots become brighter, the belly whiter and the back ver- 
miculated. Another instance of the same kind is seen in 
Tracey and Henry lakes in St. John county. In the 
former the fish are clean and bright; in the latter, dirty 
and dim, covered thickly with the minute jet-black specks 
above described. Every observant angler knoAA^s how 
various are the colors of trout in different waters, but he 
never has a doubt that all are of the same species. These 
remarks apply to perch, chub, suckers and pickerel in 
fresh Avater, whose colors are as various as the waters 
they inhabit. Even among salt-water fishes like Cod, 
Pollack and Haddock, the colors vary with the individual. 
1 have seen vastly more difference between trout taken 
from the same lake than I could ever find between a so- 
called Sea Trout and an undoubted fontinalis of the same 
size. 
In your issue of January 17, Mr. R. T. Morris writes 
about the difference in appearance and habits of Sea Trout 
in northern and southern streams. Every fisherman Avith 
liis eyes open must have observed considerable difference 
between the appearance and habits of Salmon and trout 
in dift'erent waters, and indeed in different parts of the 
s?me water. Any Salmon fisherman on the north shore 
of New Brunswick, after a fcAV seasons' experience, can 
tell Miramichi Salmon and trout from those caught in 
the Nepissiguit. A Miramichi angler can readily dis- 
tinguish between the Salmon of the nortliAvest and those 
of the southAvest branch. A Restigouche angler, if he is 
at all observant of small differences, will have no diffi-.- 
cully in distinguishing an Upsalquitch from a Patapedia 
Salmon, and detect among them all a Matapedia fish or 
one from KedgAvick. The man must be "color blind" 
Avhu can see no difference between the Salmon in Port 
Medway River in Nova Scotia and those from Gold 
River; between those from Indian River and those from 
the Margaree, and yet no one doubts that all are of the 
same species. Mr. Morris tells us: "The sea-run brook 
trout likes to remain near cover or under it when in the 
stream; while the sea trout lies in the middle of the 
most open pools, * * * and cares very Httle about the 
presence of the fisherman in full sight, and Avill rise freely 
tc the most clumsy cast. * * * The sea trout often 
rises near the surface and makes a wake like a muskrai 
before getting to the Hy. The sea-run brook trout runs 
for cover -when hooked; the sea trout keeps in the open 
when hooked and splashes about nea^ the surface:^'' (The 
italics are mine.) 
Then comes Mr. J. W. B., in your issue of February 7, 
and tells an entirely different story of his own experience 
in the Escuminac at the extreme head of Chaleur Bay, 
in which and in the Nouvelle the Old Angler and the late 
John Mowat, for twenty years Fishing Overseer of the 
district, have had the finest angling in all the lower pools 
and never found it necessary to go higher for fish. 
J. W. B.'s experience is the "exact opposite" to that of 
Mr. Morris, for he writes: /'* * * The pools and 
reaches of the lower five or six miles of the river never 
contain any large trout, * * * j^^,)- countless thousands 
of fingerling trout." Unlike the Sea Trout of Mr. Morris, 
Avhich keep in the open and splash about near the sur- 
face, those of J. W. B. "seek the shelter of the banks and 
the overhanging bushes, and then, to get your Hy zvhere 
the concealed fish can see it, requires skill, patience and 
profanity. But they are there, great spotted beauties, as 
plenty as the angler can wish. When you fasten to a 
four-pound fish after digging him out from under the 
alders, he is very liable to exhibit a frantic desire to re- 
turn to cover." Let the reader compare these tAvo descrip- 
tions, especially the passages I have italicized, and he 
may well doubt whether these observant gentlemen are 
Avriting about the same fish; and yet both give their 
opinion that these Sea Trout, with such opposite habits, 
are a distinct species from fontinalis, with a different 
habitat. Thus sciolism rushes blithely in where Icnowledge 
creeps with cautious steps, and a fcAV hours' fishing of a 
single stream is put against the laborious study of forty 
years on all the principal river.Sj lakes and streams of 
Nova Scotia, Ncav BrunsAvick and P. E. Island. Mr. 
Morris is quite right when he says : "I suspect the mat- 
ter is well understood, and that differences in opinion are 
simply dift'erences in information on the part of corre- 
spondents." 
Your issue of January 10 contains some very sensible 
remarks from Mr. W. B. Mershon, who seems to know 
the Cascapedia Avell and has had great facilities for study- 
ing its trout. He says : "My observations on the Casca- 
pedia River, extending through a good many years, lea4 
