The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-20

every time one of the children cam'
 near.
 When his shyness wore away, MT
 Boss settled upon system of living
 that, as far as the limited space of his
 new home allowed, conformed to thC habits of his kind in a wild state, as
 have observed them on many trou
 streams. He came out of his sheltel
 about half an hour before daylight, anC after running about the aquarium fol
 a few moments constitutional, took his
 station near his hiding place. Here hG poised himself for a time, and then be- gan to eat. Singling out a minnow from the swarm that always ,huddled
 near the centre of the tank, he would dart after it, invariably returning to his corner, with its tail protruding from he mouth. This manoeuvre was generally repeated several times, after which he
 started on tur of inspection, poking up each of his fellow captives in turn,
 chasing this one, biting that, and but ting another, until he had things in a | turmoil. The craWfish generally emerg
 ed from his den in the seashell at some
 time during the fracas, only to. be l
 But master Salmo never actually touch-
 ed this rough-looking customer, seem | ing to stand somewhat in awe of it's long pinchers. The craWfish had been l taken from the main river, and being
 much larger than anything of the kind
 MT. Boss had seen in his native creek,
 must have inspired him with feeling of respect.
 | Having demonstrated anew his | superiority over the inhabitants of his l prison house, the trout would again re- | tire to his corner and await the som ing of the children with their flies. If a worm was dropped in at this early hour, very little attention was ever paid
 to it. As the day advanced, he sand nearer and nearer the bottom, and about the time the sun reached point where its rays shone through the glass sides
 of the tank, he made a last tour of in-
 spection, took a couple of minnows on
 the way, and then retired to the shelter
 of the rocks. The feed-pipe came in
 here, and he thus conformed to the hab-
 it's formed while at liberty, for all trout
 fishermen know that speckled beauties make for the spring holes under the
 bank in summer to escape the heat of midday. From the secure retreat he was seldom tempted until mid-afternoon, when worm would sometimes coax him forth. A fly, however, would bring forth rise" at almost any time of the day or night About 4 o'clock he sal lied forth again and attacked the min nows or picked up a worm or two, if offered. From then until dark he took station near his hiding-place, and pois- ed himself so steadily that the eye could detect no motion, save for slight quiv- ering on the edge of the fins and ex- treme top of the tail.
 To illustrate the wonderful power these fishes have over their muscles, it will suffice to say that I have in my possession a photograph of MT. Boss, taken one day when his nerves were so firm as to induce me to try for pie ture left. the shutter open minute and half by the watch but the nega- tive showed his through the glass, with every line perfect, some of his speckles even being in evidence. The only parts that blurred were the tail and fins
 My speckled beauties complexion every day--sometimes every hour. Roily water in the pipes caused him to become almost the color of the | while when the water yas clear his skin shimmered and glowed | like a rainbow. Between these extremes he displayed such a variety of coloring, | according to the intensity of the light ! and clearness of the water, as to seem almost like different fish on different days. But the startling change of all | occurred after stay of a few hours under black stone that was added to his shelter. From the shadow of this le emerged with the dges of his fins and | gill covers a jet black, while dark ing around some of the spots on his | sides. After witnessing this, I ceased to wonder at the great dissimiarity in he appearance of trout had caught in r-days, which, and though taken rom the same stream, were yet so ut ,erly unlike as to cause on to think hem of different species.
 There was one think in the tank which MT. Boss never tired of fighting, which completely used him up every 'mall, white rubber pipe that carried IIc lItSil-WdltI supply. w Hen6Ner InlS vas moved gently. so that the loose end Tn the aquarium bottom wriggled like l big worm, his pugnacious spirit rose lgain, and he rushed at the offending 'bject, seized it by the end, and shook t vigorously. There he hung until the 'utflowing water choked him into a tate of exhaustion. He carried some if these combats so far as nearly to sphyxiate himself, but always returned 0 the fray when fresh challenge was 'iven. As he grew tanner he would at ack an intruding finger in like man. Ter, so that most of the family bore at ome time the marks of his sharp eeth.
 There seemed to be no limit to the ap- etite of this fish. A plentiful supply f minnows was easily obtained, and on hese he feasted without stint They ,ere the ordinary small dace and creek liners, about an inch and half long, if these MT. Boss slowed away an aver ge of about thirty, a day, as I ascer- aimed by observation. Such generous eedng soon caused him to assume all ermanic proportions, his grth doubling l the six months he was with us with ut any apprecable increase in length The greedy habit thus formed proved is undoing in the end. When the win sr came and in the primitive plumbing our command in the summer kitchen :.
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