THE BROOK TROUT

Trout Taking Flies.—"Trout invariably strike the insect first with their tails, knocking it into the water and then devouring it with a swift dart which can hardly be distinguished from the original movement, so quickly does one succeed the other."—W. C. Prime.

Trout Colors.—The color of a trout's back depends on the color of the bottom of the river. Rapidly growing trout differ greatly in spots and color from those which grow slowly and thrive badly. A middle-aged trout differs in color from an aged trout. Speaking generally, the young, healthy, fast-growing fish will have silvery sides, white belly, and plenty of well-defined spots. The poorly fed fish will have few or no spots, a drab belly, and muddy yellow sides. Old trout are particularly lank and large-headed.

Tame Trout.—An English gentleman has two brook trout that take flies from his fingers, and that ring a little bell cord when they are hungry. They were taught this latter performance by having bits of food tied to the cord when it was first introduced.

Wild Trout and Tame.—"Somehow the catching of, as it were, stall-fed trout has not the same charm as the fishing for the wild trout. The domestics lack that fierce rush and dash of the wild beauty."—John B. Robinson.

Sight, Hearing, etc., of Trout.—"There is no question ... as to the high development of the senses of sight, taste, and hearing in trout."—Wm. C. Harris.

Trout at Play.—"Many times have I leaned over the sides of my boat in Northern waters, where the trout lay beneath me, and seen the mottled beauties chase each other, and race and leap in rivalry of sport, until their bright sides irradiated the dark stream with glancing light, as if the rays of the sun had taken water and were at their bath."—W. H. H. Murry.

Trout in Hungary.—The streams of Hungary afford excellent angling for trout and grayling.

Unidentified Trout.—M. P. Dunham of Ovando. Montana, a sportsman's guide of many years' experience, writes me: "We have two trout here in Montana that I do not find pictured in The Angler's Guide or any other book I have seen containing the technical portraits of the fishes. One of these trout weighs up to forty-nine pounds and its average weights are twelve pounds to fifteen pounds. The other is a small trout that averages less than one pound in weight, and it has no spots. The large trout has a few spots, these being particularly brilliant in the mating season—September and October. The best time to fish for this large species is in August and September. Both of these unidentified trout will rise to the artificial fly, but in fly-fishing I have never taken a specimen of the large species that weighed over six pounds, the fish ranging beyond this weight favoring small fish and red meat for bait. The waters are overstocked with the large variety; the small unspotted variety is only in one stream." Undoubtedly these two trout are odd forms of well-known species. Mr. Dunham should send specimens of each to the United States Fish Commission at Washington. The small trout will undoubtedly prove to be the common mountain trout, whose peculiar habitat—the one stream Mr. Dunham mentions—is responsible for its peculiar coloring. The large fish that ranges up to forty-nine pounds is no doubt a form of lake trout which has been known to attain a weight of eighty pounds and a length of six feet.

The Trout's Symmetry.—"Few humanly designed lines are more graceful than those of the yacht. The trout is made up of such lines. It is a submarine designed by the Almighty. It makes the most of the simple elements of artistic beauty—symmetry of line, suggestive of agile power, and delicately blended harmonies of rich color."—New York Evening Telegram, editorial page, July 17, 1915.

The Beautiful Trout.—"Of all the many species of trout, Salvelinus or Salmo, the brook trout, fontinalis, is by far the most beautiful."—Charles Zibeon Southard.

A Loving Trout.—At the Wintergreen estate, Highland Lake, Winsted, Conn., a brook trout was kept in captivity in a deep spring for seven years. When the fish was fifteen inches in length two other brook trout, a male and female, each ten inches long, were placed in the spring to keep the old fellow company. He promptly fell in love with the lady trout and killed and swallowed her escort.

Albino Trout.—The fish hatchery in St. Paul, Minn., had at one time twenty thousand albino trout in stock. This species was discovered in 1893. There is something peculiar in Minnesota waters which aids propagation of this species. The fish are white mottled with red and yellow spots; the fins are white with red bands mottled with yellow. The eyes are red and the trout has apparently a transparent skin so that the bones are visible through it.

Rainbow Trout.—Dr. A. E. Buzard, of Hayward. Calif., fishing in the Spokane River within ten minutes' walk of the city of Spokane, Wash., creeled eleven rainbow trout weighing, collectively, seventeen pounds.

Rocky Mountain Trout.—H. E. Peck, of Kenman. North Dakota, and H. N. Stabeck, of Minneapolis. Minn., enjoyed good trout fishing last summer in the Crow West country of the Rocky Mountains. A catch of thirty-one trout weighed, collectively, fifty-one pounds. The largest specimen weighed three and one fourth pounds.

Flood-water Trout.—When the trout stream is flooded, the trout find plenty of food and they gorge themselves with worms, etc. Then they refuse the Angler's bait for several days—"trout feed on a rising stream, not on a falling stream."—E. Curley.

A Tame Trout.—"Sunbeam, the pet speckled trout in the fish hatchery at Estes Park, is very fond of being stroked and petted, and will swim around and rub itself against a person's hand whenever a chance is given it."—Estes (Calif.) Correspondent New York World. I'll warrant this fish only rubs its lips against the hand of man. No fish will willingly allow its body to come in contact with a man's hand, because fishes are covered with a slime that protects them when they encounter rocks, logs, etc., and they naturally would not voluntarily waste this valuable armor.

Traits of the Trout.—The brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), using its tail with vigor and precision, will splash water into the midst of a mass of flying insects (midge, black gnat, mosquito, etc.), and thus disable these insects so that they will fall on the surface of the water, where they become easy prey to the voracious trout. Fontinalis will also use his tail in striking to disable larger insects (butterflies, beetles, cricket, potato-bug, etc.), and the Angler's artificial flies when they are floating in or upon the water.

Rainbow Trout.—"The rainbow takes the fly so readily that there is no reason for resorting to grasshoppers, salmon eggs, or other bait. It is a fish whose gameness will satisfy the most exacting of expert Anglers, and whose readiness to take any proper line will please the most impatient of inexperienced amateurs."—Prof. Evermann.

The Tactful Trout.—"Trout are emblems of quiet, calm, and gentleness, such as love not to be in troubled waters or to be tossed to and fro by the blustering of wicked and malevolent spirits, but rather live quiet at home than enjoy abundance through labor and trouble."—Randal Holme.

Double-headed Trout.—A two-headed brook trout is the product of the fish hatchery at Colebrook, N. H.

Trout in Side Currents.—"As a general rule although many trout are taken near, very near the rough, white water of a stream, they do not as a rule lie in the very swiftest portions, but in adjacent and quieter side currents."—Samuel G. Camp.

The Angler's Joy.—"The brook trout always will be the Angler's greatest joy, but the German brown trout [introduced in American waters] and the rainbow trout add variety to the social life of the streams."—Neal Brown.