400 
ORDERS OF FISHES— TROUT AND SALMON 
birches, beeches and maples, and well backed 
by the forest shadows that painters love. Usu- 
ally the music of rushing water pervades the 
haunt of the Brook Trout; and the only cloud 
upon it all is that, ever and anon, Man, the 
supposedly high-minded, savagely bends every 
energy to kill an unduly-great number of these 
beautiful creatures, and fills a sordid creel en- 
tirely too full. 
Most unluckily for the Trout, it is its habit 
to be ever on the alert for insects on the surface 
of its pool, and “rise to a fly.” To the high- 
class sportsman who scorns the humble angle- 
worm, the accurate throwing of a small fly for a 
very long distance, solely by the exercise of 
great skill and judgment, is the crowning attrac- 
tion in seeking the Brook Trout in its haunts. 
The skill required in fly-fishing is enough to 
tempt any man who has ever felt the electricity 
that every good fly-rod is charged with; and it 
is no wonder that men love to fish for this very 
beautiful fish, in the most charming of all sylvan 
situations. 
The Brook Trout was once a habitant of the 
northeastern United States, northward of a 
line drawn from New Jersey to Minnesota, into 
Labrador, Canada and Manitoba; but to-day, 
where is it? Ask the “fish-hog” who spares no 
Trout that is big enough to lift from a platter. 
Ask the market fishers, who fish and fish to sup- 
ply hotels and restaurants, in season and out of 
season. 
In its wild state, this fish is doomed to dis- 
appear at an early date. We have now in this 
country a large and rapidly increasing element 
the members of which have come to us to slay 
and eat. To them, the preservation of wild 
life to look at seems like childish folly. These, 
and others like-minded, are raking our trout- 
streams with fine-toothed combs, and mean that 
nothing larger than a trout egg shall escape. 
And the end will be that in a very few years 
the wild Brook Trout will be as nearly extinct 
as the wild buffalo. 
THE SALMON GROUP. 
The salmon were made for the millions. The 
Siwash Indian eats them fresh in summer, dries 
them, and later on freezes them, for himself 
and his dogs in winter. The epicure pays for 
having the fresh fish shipped in ice to his table, 
wherever that table may happen to be. In 
mid-ocean, the great American canned salmon is 
often the best and only fish afloat. In the 
jungles of the Far East, in the frontier bazaar 
of the enterprising Chinese trader, it “bobs up 
serenely” to greet and cheer the lonesome white 
man who is far from home and meat markets. 
Even in the wilds of Borneo its name is known 
and respected; and he who goes beyond the last 
empty salmon-tin, truly goes beyond the pale of 
civilization. The diffusion of knowledge among 
men is not much greater than the diffusion of 
canned salmon ; and the farther Americans travel 
from home, the more they rejoice that it follows 
the flag. 
The common salmon of Europe, and also of 
Labrador and New England, was accounted a 
wonderful fish, both for sport and for the table, 
until the discovery of the salmon millions of the 
Pacific coast effectually cheapened the name. 
To hold their place in the hearts of sportsmen, 
game fishes positively must not inhabit streams 
so thickly that they are crowded for room, and 
can be caught with pitchforks. Yet this once 
was true of the salmon in several streams of the 
Pacific coast. The bears of Alaska grow big 
and fat on the salmon which they catch with 
the hooks that Nature gave them. 
The salmon species of North America are as 
follows : 
^ . 
< £ 
*5 * 
Atlantic 
Species : 
'Atlantic. Salmon. 
(Of Europe and N. America.) 
- Ouananiche. 
(The leaping fighter.) 
, Sebago. 
Pacific 
Species: 
' Quinnat, or Chinook. 
(Most valuable species.) 
Blueback, or Sockeye. 
(Second in value.) 
Silver, or Coho. 
(Third; flesh white.) 
Humpback, or Gorbuscha. 
(Of little value.) 
Dog, or Kayko. 
, (Of least value.) 
The five species of Pacific coast salmon form 
a remarkable group. They lead all fishes in 
annual commercial value ($13,000,000); they 
are the most abundant of all fishes that inhabit 
fresh water; they traverse very great distances 
