84 
KENDAL!.: NEW ENGLAND CHARRS. 
stances when disappointed in love affairs and driven away by successful rivals, and physical 
disturbances, will roam about, and oftentimes, in such cases, will take extended departures. 
Otherwise they will frequent the same feeding grounds, although taking their spring and au- 
tumnal outings. We all know of the particular fellows which are found year after year in the 
same deep pools and by the steep rocks, which so long bid defiance to human art, but which 
finally yielded up their liberties and lives to their unconquerable taste for the insidious fly.” 
And he further states that if a trout was carried away from his accustomed home and placed 
in the w’ater he would return forthwith, citing an instance of a trout, which was known by a 
hook left in its mouth, which was caught again the next day in its original place, having traveled 
a distance of three miles during a dark night beneath thirty inches of ice and snow. 
Mr. Rich wrote in the American Angler of April 14, 1883: “I once met a school of trout 
several acres in extent making their way from the head of the lake [Rangeley] down toward the 
inlet. They were swimming near the surface and the water appeared to be alive with them. 
I could seen them plainly from the boat and they appeared to be all sizes, and among them very 
large ones. Some of them would break water occasionally.” 
The population of tiibutary waters is mainly brought about by the wanderings of young 
fish which tend to mov^e up stream and into smaller streams after they begin to feed; although, 
while in pursuit of food, adult trout doubtless gradually make their way into neighboring waters. 
Spawning Time. 
The trout spawns in autumn during the falling of the water temperature, the season vary- 
ing somewhat with the latitude, also with the local temperature of the water. In general, 
including all localities and conditions, it may be said to extend from in September into Decem- 
ber. The duration is about two months for the trout of any body of water. In the Rangeley 
Lakes the height of the season is about the middle of October to November, depending somewhat 
on the condition and weather. The season may be delayed or interrupted by weather condi- 
tions. 
The sexes differ much in appearance at the breeding time, especially in large fish. The head 
of the male is longer (Text-figs. A, B), the lower jaw somewhat hooked, the mouth and teeth 
larger, and the coloration more brilliant, the belly and some of the fins being a brilliant red, 
and the white margin of the pectorals and ventrals more distinct. The body of the male also 
becomes flat or slab-sided and has a thick coat of mucus, almost or quite obscuring the scales. 
The age of maturity varies somewhat. The male is usually more precocious in that re- 
spect than the female. Artificially reared trout have been found mature at one year of age. A 
colored picture of a female in spawning condition, 7| inches long, 14 months old, still bearing 
parr marks, is shown in the Manual of Fish Culture issued by the United States Fish Commis- 
