St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-03-16
Biography of a Trout.
Article by j. W. Titcomb Written for
The New England Magazine.

An article entitled "The Biography of
Trout" written by John w. Titcomb
of this place is being published in the
New England Magazine, through the
company. The CALIFORNIAN reproduces
| it.
| Had you suddenly dropped down in
| Vermont at the time this story begins
you would not have believed that it was
( midwinter. The proverbial January
thaw was so thorough that the ice which
| covered the streams for two months had
broken up and "gone out" in freshet.
The snow was still deep in the dense
woods, but only.a few patches were to
be seen on the open hillsides.
The wife of the mayor of a small city
among the Green Mountains had just
| filled a bowl with water from the tap.
| In it she saw little round thing no
| larger than a small pea and of pale,
pink color with two little dark spots init.
| She took it in the palm of her hand and
looked at it closely. The warmth in her
hand caused something in this strange
| little ball to move. The two spots NOV
| ed and then the whole inside of the little
ball seemed to move. When replaced in
| the bowl of water, after an hour or so,
| elittle ball had split open and now had
| a tail. The tail wiggled and pushed the
| ball around in the bottom of the bowl;
then shell-like covering dropped off and
there was little fish.
Unlike larger fishes. it had very big
sac on its stomach which was almost as
large as the ball had been. Thelady had
never seen newly born baby fish and
did not know what to do with it. AS it
| had come with the water, she put the
| bowl under the tap and letting the water
drip into it, it was just what the baby
fish needed. The room was warm but
the fresh water from the tap keeps the
little fellow cool and each drop carries
| with it into the bowl a bit of air. Fish
es need air just as much as boys and
girls do.
The lady tried to feed the little thing,
but it did not touch the crumbs of bread
which she gave it. Most of the time it
lay very quiet, but when disturbed it
wiggled its tail and tried to swim. 1t
could only circle around in the bottom of
the bowl and even with much more space
| it could not do much better because the
| big sac is clumsy load for it to carry.
| Now have you guessed that the little
ball was fish egg and that the two lit
| tie dark spots were the eyes of baby
fish? The little fish had been curled
around the yolk in the egg and when the
shell broke open it uncurled. First the
tail stuck out of the crack in the shell,
| for you must know that it is the usual
thing for fishes to come in to the world
| tail first, otherwise they do not live.
| Our baby fish could not back away from
the shell because its little fins were still
inside of it. So it just wiggled its tail
until the crack in the shell grew larger
/ and then the shell fell off.
| The sac onits stomach is the yolk of
| the egg and is called the umbilical sac.
Have you ever seen the yolk of a hens
egg ? Well, eggs of fishes also have yolks,
xxyIioh haoo, +ta food Of Gcoa
when they hatch. With some kinds of
fishes this yolk or bread sac contains
enough food to last from three to six
weeks, and our baby fish is one of this
kind, for it is a trout.
But we are getting ahead of our story.
Where did the eggs come from? Have
you heard of fish stories? Well this is
a true fish story.
Away back on the hills is a fine trout
stream made up of a number of little
brooks which have their start still farth-
er up in the hills. In the fall of the year
when the leaves of the trees take on such
brilliant hues the trout in the brooks al
so have bright Colors. The male trout
are the brighter but both males and fe-
males have more vivid colors at this
time than at any other. 1t is at this
season that the trout gather, like child
rem, in schools. Those in the lakes and
ponds move to places where the water is
not deep or towards the mouth of a
stream, while those in streams gather in
pools and move up against the current
of water.
Let us follow school of trout which
has just met at the mouth of a brook.
Get down on your hands and knees and
creep softly to the bank just where the
water tumbles over a log into the pond.
The fish are not very wild at this season
but it is best not to let them see you nor
feel any jar on the banks. Now look
sharply into the water. At first you see
only the water and the bottom of the
pool. Then something moves quickly as
a fish darts at one ofits mates; another
fish almost leaps out of the water and
you feel just bit of a sprinkle of cool
water on your nose; then the two fishes
become quiet Now that your eyes have
become used to the light in the water,
beside the two frisky trout you see ten or
twenty more. All of them are heading
toward the place where the water gurgles
over the log. Each fish slowly moves its
fms back and forth just enough to hold
itself from drifting away with the cur
rent of water, and now and again one
trout darts after another like children at
play.
But the trout are not playing. Mr..
Trout has sided up to a Miss Trout and
he wants the other fellows to keep away
from his chosen mate. Sometimes the
lady trout has many admirers and in
such cases the one who can fight away
the others claims her as his bride, so Mr..
Trout has to fight more or less during
all the trip up stream.
The journeys of the trout usually occur
at night, when they move up stream a
little way until they find NICE sheltered
pool. Then follows period of lazy but
happy DAYS spent in this or other pools
still farther up the stream.
They do not feel very hungry but still
have appetite enough to snap at insects
which may be so unfortunate as to drop
on the water above them. 1t is pleasant
also to eat an angle worm which may