The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-06
Dr. Lyons
 PERFECT Tooth Powder Used by people of refinement for over a quarter of a century
 PREPARED BY e eHo70. -nDJc
WILD FISHERS OF TROUT.
Birds, Beasts and Reptiles That Rival
 the Human Anglers Skill.

Any one who can suppress for while his eagerness with the rod on a trout stream. and summon patience to lie in wait and watch the ways of beasts and birds" sad one who had evidently been able to do so will discover that he is not the only fisher in those waters. Chief among the other fishers are the heron, the ldngfisher. the mink, the water snake and the snapping turtle.
 An angler passing down a brook, in- tent on his rod, will rarely see any of these wild fishers at their work, for they are all wary and shy, perhaps with the exception of the water snake. No angler has ever ished between the elder-skirted banks of any trout stream without dscoV- ering one or more of these reptiles--harm- less except as to their woeful appetite for trout-twisted around some overhangng branch, watching for prey.
 One day while fishing on q Sullivan county brook l lay down in the shade of a maple to eat my lunch and smoke pipe. While thus in quetude l saw blue heron drop down on the edge of the brook, only rod or two away After few min utes of statuesque watching. the long legged bird darted Its head down Into the water, wi hdrew 1t with a large trout in
 it's bill, and flew away
 Not amore than five minutes after the heron had disappeared. a mink came swimming up the brook. In pool, nearly within my reach. the mink dived. moment later it appeared with good half pound trout in It's mouth
 "fhis expert fisher had scarcely gone it's way when harsh-yoiced kingfsher alighted on a dead limb overhanglng the brook twenty yards from where 1 lay The bird was not long on the limb before down ant in q nm, ,trtt |, trout. l was trying to figure out what the probable drain on the trout population of the country might be from the inroads of these wild maranders. when a water snake came gliding up the stream carrying trout in its mouth that was big enough to talk about Then thought 1t was time for me to get to fishing again before these expert and persistent wild fishers had robbed me of any chance for sport.
 "Herons like snapping turtles, select the largest trout for their prey. They usually fish at the foot of some deep pool Poised on one long slender leg. the heron as immovable as If it were carved from stone, waits patiently the passing of some lusty trout from the rapid water below into the pool
 '"fhe wait is seldom a long one Sud- denly the long neck shoots out like ar row, and the great bill is buried for an in- Sldlil III lut WdltT. ut am IS TdftlN dL fault. and when the birds head appears in sight again a large trout usually comes up with it. The heron rises lazily from | the creek, trailing its spindlng legs, and flies home with it's savory burden.
 Hate in the season when trout begin to congregate where small spring runs empty into the. stream the heron will be found fishing there, as 1t seems to know well. as does the kingfsher, all the habits of i, G.,l, z. heron, with free scope on a trout stream, will likely take from it thousand trout, many of them heavy with spawn. during the time this big bird fishes which is 1 from the time the ice leaves the creeks 1 in the spring until 1t forms on them again the following winter,
 "The mink fishes all winter long. as l we'll as in the summer. In fact 1t is during the ice-bound period that it is most destructive to trout.
 "The kingfisher Is not so certain in it's ] aim the heron, but one failure never 1 discourages this winged marauder It will resume it's perch on the dead limb-an outlook it seems to prerer-settle down with it's watchman' s-rattle cry and watch i and dive until the prize is won.
 "The kingfsher is no stickler for size 1 in trout. but tries for the first that l comes along It is a greedy hsher--or
 
 has an unsuitable appetite, for the bird l has been known 10 return ten times to the same place within an hour, and carry away a trout every time A catch which it makes In that length of time the best of anglers. nowadays, would consider something to boast of
 "kingfishers are common along all streams. and 1t is hard to estimate the number of trout they filch from the creeks during the time they fish there.
 Water snakes, baslilng by the hundreds along every trout stream, fish with so much tact and cunning that they num- Der their prey by thousands from the time they come out of their hibernating places. which Is, as soon as the weather begins to get warm, until the approach of winter drives them back into their holes.
 "There is no knowing to how great a degree the trout retaiate on the snakes for their warfare, but that they do make reprisals Is known to every angler for many big trout when dressed is found to have from one to three young water snakes in his stomach.
 '1t Is fortunate. not only for the trout, but for all kinds of brook, pond and river fishes, that the snapping turtle is of tremely slow growth and that it's eggs are themselves the prey of birds. snakes muskrats. and various predacious things for 1t is one of the deadliest of foes to the fnny tribe