FOREST AND STREAM. 
4^1 
Of course, angling in the streams I have named is not 
limited to early spring, but continues well into June, 
salmon being taken with the fly in the Port Medway 
River as late as the loth, and at the Indian Gardens, so- 
called, on Lake Rossignol until the 20th or 25th ; all these 
waters are practically free, the fishing on the Indian 
River being controlled by the Mason brothers, who make 
no charge for the privilege of angling if either of them 
is employed as guide. 
The Ingram River is free to all, and so are the East, 
Gold, Severn, Liverpool and Port Medway rivers, the 
Ponhook Indians, who are located at Greenfield, acting as 
canoemen and gaffers on the last named streams. 
To those who have a desire to obtain a share of the 
royal sport that is now to be had in the streams I have 
named, and have the opportunity to gratify that desire, 
my advice is to stand not upon the order of their going, 
but go at once; and if either of them obtains more fish 
than he can otherwise dispose of, let him send one to 
me with his card and the favor will be fully appreciated; 
for the salmon that enter those rivers are epicurean de- 
lights; they are as fine flavored as the best Penobscot 
salmon, and far and away ahead of those which are or- 
dinarily taken in New Brunswick and Quebec waters. 
The streams on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia are 
reached by way of the Boston boat to Yarmouth, thence 
by railroad to Middleton, from which point a connecting 
line runs east to Lunenburg, where there are stage con- 
nections for various localities on the coast. Or at Yar- 
mouth one may take steamer which sails twice every 
week for Liverpool, from which town stages run to Cale- 
donia, Bridgewater, Mill Village, where there is good 
salmon fishing, as well as to Port Medj^ay and the South 
Shore. 
Fiies, 
For early salmon fishing there, one has the best success 
with large and gaudy flies. Many a time have I killed a 
salmon in these waters with a fly that would frighten a 
Restigouche or any other New Brunswick salmon out of 
its wits. I have thrown out a Prince William of Orange 
fly so large that when it alighted upon the water it seemed 
afmost the size of a goldfinch, but it did not alarm the 
Nova Scotia fish, for they seized it with avidity. During 
the month of May, however, flies of medium size are most 
desirable ; as the mouths of these fish seem to be more 
tender than are those of salmon ordinarily, flies tied on 
the double are preferable to those tied on the single 
hook' As for varieties, I do not know as there is any 
great choice, for in these waters the fish, fresh run as 
they are, will come to almost anything that moves. How- 
ever, if one is to choose a half dozen kinds for an outing 
there, I think that a wise selection would consist of Prince 
William of Orange, butcher, silver-doctor, light and dark 
Montreals, and Jock-Scott, and he will need at least a 
half dozen of each. 
The rivers I have named are so well looked after by 
the fishing officials of the Province that there is little 
poaching done on them ; in fact, outside of the Port Med- 
way River, there is practically none at all ; on that stream, 
however, the Indians do some spearing, and when they 
get the chance will draw a seine or set a net, but of late 
this work has been pretty effectually stopped. _ They are, 
however, given by the authorities certain privileges in- 
jurious to the fishery interests in a high degree. 
For example, they are permitted to catch the parrs or 
smolts of the salmon in as great numbers as they choose ; 
I have seen them at Greenfield and at Molega peddling 
large strings of the young salmon which were from 6 to 
9 inches in length, and I found on inquiry that it was a 
common practice for them to do so, and that they spme- 
times catch several bushels in a season. Now, this is an 
illustration of the story about the Irishman, who, on be- 
ing asked if one man is as good as another, replied, "He 
is, and a dom sight betther," for this wasteful privilege 
that is given to the Indians would not be vouchsafed to 
white men. 
It seems very strange to the looker-on that the authori- 
ties who are spending considerable surns of money in 
stocking the rivers of the Province with salmon fry, 
should permit such extraordinary wastefulness to go on. 
Habits of Yoong Salmon. 
Apropos of parrs and smolts, it seems to me that their 
general habits are not very well known. It is a well es- 
tablished fact that the banded parrs increase in size until 
they become smolts, which are more or less silvery in 
color before they descend to the sea, and that after pass- 
ing two or three years there they return to their native 
streams, grilse; but for a long time I was unable to de- 
cide how and where they lived in the period between the 
fry and the developed smolt stages. 
It is true in the Port Medway River they seem to 
be abundant, and come to the fly as readily as do the sea 
trout, but with much more dash and activity; but I never 
saw or heard of one being taken in either pf the rivers 
I have named, with the exception of the Liverpool, and 
in this stream I made a discovery several years ago that 
threw a little light on the subject. As I was fishing for 
trout at Loon Lake Falls, which are situated about two 
miles below the outlet of Kegemacougie, I captured four 
or five of the parrs, which were really smolts, the bands 
having disappeared and the bright coat been taken on. 
When the landing net encompassed the first one, my guide 
exclaimed, "Good enough, you have taken one of our 
graylings." On a brief examination of the fish I assured 
him that it was not a grayling, but was really a young 
salmon. It was difficult at first to convince him that he 
was wrong, for he, with others of the natives, had for a 
number of years spoken of, and believed it to be, the fish 
he had named. But on my pointing out structural pecu- 
liarities, he admitted that I was right. On the following 
day I captured several more in the quick water of the 
so-called Eel-Weir, near the outlet of the lake, and in 
the succeeding year I caught three or four below the mill 
dam at Maitland. They were all gamy little fellows, 
jumping clear of the water in pursuit of the fly, and re-, 
sisting capture in a way greatly disproportionate to their 
size and strength. Those which were, not badly injured 
I returned to the river, hoping that some day they mi^t 
come back as grilse or salmon. 
Now. it is a curious fact that neither salmon nor grilse 
ascend beyond the confines of Lake Rossignol, and, to be 
accurate, J will say t^at none have eyjer b^fn sepn further 
up the lake than tHe so-railed Indian (^rdens, in tte 
neighborhood of which are probably their spawning beds. 
Now, those little parr, in order to reach the dam at Mait- 
land, had a long and perilous journey; they must have 
traversed Lake Rossignol from six to eight miles, strug- 
gled for several miles against the waters of the river 
which in many places are quite rapid, surmounted the 
falls I have named, and up through the heavy water to 
the outlet of Kegemacougie, pushed their way through 
that lake, which is about five miles in length, up the river 
two or three miles to another series of high falls, sur- 
mounted those and traversed a stretch between one and 
two miles of still water and some rapids until they reached 
the dam, which at that time was a structure they could 
not surmount. 
It seems almost nicredible that those little fish could 
have traveled such a great distance, and that they should 
have successfully run the gauntlet among the rapacious 
trout which are numerous in almost every portion of the 
water I have named, is also wonderful. 
Now, while this fact may be of no very great import- 
ance, it proves conclusively, to my mind, that the young 
salmon, until they are ready to descend to the sea, ascend 
to the fountain heads of streams, just as the small trout 
do, perhaps to evade their numerous enemies, possibly be- 
cause the water is brighter and purer, but probably be- 
cause it is an instinct inherent in their natures. 
• 
Hearing in Fishes. 
From Our Animal Friends. 
There are few questions connected with the compar- 
ative physiology of the special senses more curious and 
interesting than that of hearing in fishes. It is assumed 
by some naturalists that because fishes have no vocal 
organs and produce, of course, no vocal sounds, they 
should have no hearing, although all fishes have an in- 
ternal ear. Apparently it is not remembered that Aris- 
totle, more than twenty-two hundred years ago, de- 
scribed several genera of fishes that are capable of pro- 
ducing sounds more or less intense. In the "History of 
Animals." Aristotle described the sound produced by gur- 
nards (grunting fish), but made the distinction between 
those produced by rubbing or by internal parts about the 
stomach, and true vocal sounds. In the middle of the 
last century, Johann Miiller made a list of "vocal fishes," 
which was extended by Dufosse to the number of fifty- 
two. It would be out of place here to describe the 
mechanism of the sounds produced by fishes; and it is 
sufficient to say that grinding of the teeth, vibrations of 
pjirts in the swimming bladder, etc., produce sounds that 
may be distinctly heard under suitable conditions. The 
sounds thus produced are well known to fishermen; and 
among the "vocal fish" are gurnards, some varieties of 
herring and particularly a kind of fish found in the Med- 
iterranean called umbra. Cuvier and Valenciennes, in 
their great work on the "History of Fishes," say that 
they were assured by fishermen that umbras produced 
sounds that could be heard at a distance of twenty 
fathoms (120 feet), and that the fish could be called by 
whistling. It is also related by Milne Edwards that the 
f-sh in the Mediterranean, at the time of spawning, often 
emitted a variety of sounds, some like the droning sound 
of the double bass, some like the tones of the hautbois 
and some resembling the sound of the harmonicon or 
accordeon, "a sort of submarine concert." In whatever 
manner these sounds may be produced by fishes, that 
many, like the familiar grunting fish, moonfish and drum- 
fish, actually produce sounds under water, there can be 
no doubt. If, indeed, according to the views of some 
naturalists, fishes are deaf, it is not because there are no 
sounds under water or because they have no auditory 
apparatus; for fishes have parts corresponding to struc- 
tures in the internal ear of mammals, although there is 
no apparatus adapted to the appreciation of anything 
more than the intensity of sound. 
In the article "Visionary," I wrote : "Possibly, rays, 
invisible to us and not capable of penetrating the human 
eye are emitted at night by- a multitude of objects and 
pass into the eyes of nocturnal animals." In like manner, 
sounds inaudible to us in the air may be distinctly heard 
by fishes under water. 
More than a century ago, Franklin demonstrated that 
the striking together of two stones under water, even not 
forcibly, could be distinctly heard by a person with his 
head immersed, at a distance of a half-mile. The rate of 
conduction of sound by the atmospheric air is about 
eleven hundred feet in a second ; in water the conduction 
is more than four times as rapid. Indeed, the rate of 
sound-conduction in water was determined (Colladon 
and Sturm, 1827) by listening to the sound of a bell in 
water through an ear-trumpet also immersed in water. 
It is not essential to hearing that sound-waves shall be 
conducted to the labyrinth through the external and the 
middle ear, parts that are wanting in fishes. Otologists 
constantly, as a means of diagnosis, test the hearing by 
placing a tuning-fork against the skull, the sound being 
conducted by the bones of the head; and with the head 
under water, it is probable that the external ear does not 
play an important part in audition. 
I am led to discuss the question of hearing in fishes 
rather fully,_ for the reason that, on what seems to be 
good authority, it is assumed that fishes are deaf as well 
as dumb. It has recently been argued "that as fishes have 
no papilla actistica hasilaris, and as, with few exceptions," 
they are dumb, it is highly probable that they have no 
sense of hearing." (Lee, quoted in Schaffer's "Text- 
Book of_ Physiology," London, 1900, vol. II, p, 1167.) 
The papilla acustica, in air-breathing animals, is a part 
of the organ of Corti ; and its absence in fishes is as- 
sumed to be the strongest argument in support of their 
deafness. _ It is added, that "actual experiment seems to 
justify this contention." By such a process of reasoning 
— directly opposed to the Baconian system — it is at- 
tempted to make the experiment agree with the postulate. 
The following is an experiment which seems to me to 
show conclusively that fishes hear: the author (Zen- 
neok, 1903) endeavored to eliminate "mechanical waves," 
such as would be produced, in addition to sound-waves, 
by the striking of a bell under water or the dropping in 
of a stone. Such a precaution would be unnecessary in 
an experiment on the_ human subject, who could readiljy 
distinguish and describe soqnd-waves. To rem^e this 
fossible source of error, the author immfers'edP^ clo'dk- 
work in a vessel of water which was placed near the sur- 
fcce of a stream running under a bridge from which the 
action of the_ fishts could be observed. The clock-work 
could be set in action at will by electric connections. In 
the mornings, large numbers of fishes collected under the 
bridge; and by observing their movements when the 
clock-work was acting, it was found that the fishes 
promptly responded to the sonorous vibrations, but 
seemed insensible to mechanical waves. 
It seems to me that hearing in fishes no longer admits 
of doubt, and it remains only to study its mechanism. 
In fishes there is no vestige of an external or a middle 
ear; but in all fishes, a vesicle or vesicles exist in the 
head, connected with nerves which correspond to parts 
of the internal ear of air-breathing animals. These 
vesicles are sometimes connected with the swimming- 
bladder. For hearing in water, there could be little or 
no need of an external ear, a tympanic membrane or a 
tympanum. It is probable that sound-waves are received 
by the general surface, especially the head, and possibly 
by organs existing in what is known as the "lateral line," 
being then conducted to the internal ear. As no cochlea 
exists in fishes, it is not to be supposed that they can 
recognize the pitch of sounds ; but they have parts which 
enable them to appreciate "mass-movement" in sound- 
waves, and its different degrees of intensity. The fact 
that we can hear sounds under water that would be in- 
audible in the air almost justifies the assumption that 
fishes are sensitive to sounds that would make no recog- 
nizable impression on the auditory apparatus of air- 
breathing animals under ordinary conditions. 
Like the other organs of special sense, the auditory ap- 
paratus is always found to be exactly adapted to the re- 
quirements and surroundings of different animals. Its 
highest development, especially as regards discrimination 
of sounds, is in man; although, probably, hearing is 
more acute in some of the lower animals. The differ- 
ences between the ear of man and of lower orders of 
being are in some instances very great. In oviparous 
vertebrates, the external ear beyond the drum membrane 
is wanting, excepting that in some birds — owls — vestiges 
of this part remain. In birds and in some reptiles and 
batrachians, the drum-membrane is on a level with the 
skin of the head and is either uncovered or covered 
merely with the feathers in this region. In these ani- 
mals, the ear begins with the tympanum, which has a 
free open communication with the pharynx. In serpents, 
the loAver batrachians, and in all fishes, there is no 
tympanic cavity. It is almost unnecessary to say that 
serpents are not deaf and that the adder is no exception, 
although the psalmist wrote— "the deaf adder stoppeth 
her ears, and will not listen to the voice of the charmer, 
charm he never so wisely." In serpents, the waves of 
sound are received directly by the membrane which 
closes the oval window of the internal ear. It is a curi- 
ous fact — which has some bearing on the question of 
hearing in fishes— that in the aquatic animals, such as 
whales, sea-lions and seals, the external ear is either 
wanting or rudimentary, and there is a very .small au- 
ditory canal. In the Greenland right whale, this canal 
will scarcely admit a small probe. In respect to the ex- 
ternal ear, there is a close analogy between aquatic mam- 
mals and subterranean animals, such as moles. In bur- 
rowing animals, and in some rodents, the external ear is 
imperfectly developed ; and it is well known that moles 
hear much better under ground than on the surface, sound 
bemg conducted better by the earth than by the air. 
The external ear — confining this term to the part which 
projects from the head— is more developed in nearly all 
mammals than in man. It usually is in the form of a 
trumpet, with its oblique opening directed forward. In 
man, the quadrumana, elephants and some other mam- 
mals, the external ear is flattened and lies close to the 
sides of the head. Both in timid and in rapacious 
animals, hearing is very acute, and the appreciation of 
the direction of sound seems to be exact. Taking the 
horse as a type of timid animals, it is found that the ex- 
ternal ear is capable of a great variety of movements, no 
less than ten muscles, some of considerable size, being 
attached to the auricle. In man, there are but three 
m.uscles attached to this part. These muscles are rudi- 
mentary and, with rare exceptions, do not move the ear. 
It is well known how difficult it is for us to determine 
the direction of sound by the unaided ear. The cropping 
of ears in dogs and horses not only impairs appreciation 
of direction of sound but sensibly dulls the hearing. It 
has been observed that in cats, when one external ear 
has been destroyed or removed, there is very great dull- 
ness of hearing on that side. There is, indeed, no pos- 
sible justification for mutilation of the ears in dogs, 
horses or other animals, a practice that happily has fallen 
into disuse. In non-domesticated animals of the genus 
canis, the ears are erect; while in the dog, the ears usu- 
ally a»e pendent. This is probably due to the protection 
which man has extended to his devoted canine friend 
for untold generations. A curious instance of the adap- 
tation of organs to peculiar requirements of animals 
exists in bats. These are the only mammals capable of 
rapid and continuous flight. The parts of the external 
ear are so arranged that the external auditory canal can 
be closed by voluntary action, so as to protect the ear 
against violent currents of air while flying. A similar 
arrangement exists in the water shrew-mouse. 
The internal ear, especially the cochlea, reaches its 
highest development in mammals. While its analogue 
exists in birds and reptiles, it is small and comparatively 
simple in its structure, and the rods of Corti are wanting. 
These facts in comparative anatomy are favorable to the 
view— entertained by some physiologists— that the simple 
sacs of the internal ear are concerned in the appreciation 
of sound as sound only, including intensity, while struc- 
tures in the spiral canal (cochlea) admit of the dis- 
crimination of musical pitch. Still, it can not be doubted 
that parrots and other birds are educable in auditory ap- 
preciation and recognize different human voices and other 
peculiar soiinds._ This certainly is true of all singing 
and chattering birds. Parrots imitate articulate language; 
mocking-birds counterfeit the notes and calls of other 
birds; females are attracted by the songs of their mates, 
and many birds are monogamus; piping bull-finches, 
mynas and other species of starlings, and canaries may 
be taught to whistle simple tunes with perfect intonation. 
The^ mnge, however, of these whistling birds' is. very re- 
strictfeH, " It is to be r^refl^ that* 00 esetetfdfe^' ob'sfem- 
