=The Ouananiche.=—Dr. Henry Van Dyke writes thus of the _Ouananiche_: "But the prince of the pool was the fighting _Ouananiche_, the little salmon of St. John. Here let me chant thy praise, thou noblest and most high-minded fish, the cleanest feeder, the merriest liver, the loftiest leaper, and the bravest warrior of all creatures that swim! Thy cousin, the trout, in his purple and gold with crimson spots, wears a more splendid armor than thy russet and silver mottled with black, but thine is the kinglier nature. "The old salmon of the sea who begat thee long ago in these inland waters became a backslider, descending again to the ocean, and grew gross and heavy with coarse feeding. But thou, unsalted salmon of the foaming floods, not landlocked as men call thee, but choosing of thine own free will to dwell on a loftier level in the pure, swift current of a living stream, hath grown in grace and risen to a better life. "Thou art not to be measured by quantity but by quality, and thy five pounds of pure vigor will outweigh a score of pounds of flesh less vitalized by spirit. Thou feedest on the flies of the air, and thy food is transformed into an aerial passion for flight, as thou springest across the pool, vaulting toward the sky. Thine eyes have grown large and keen by piercing through the foam, and the feathered hook that can deceive thee must be deftly tied and delicately cast. Thy tail and fins, by ceaseless conflict with the rapids, have broadened and strengthened, so that they can flash thy slender body like a living arrow up the fall. As Launcelot among the knights, so art thou among the fish, the plain-armored hero, the sunburnt champion of all the water-folk." Dr. Francis Day, who has very thoroughly studied these fishes, takes, in his memoir on "The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland," and in other papers, a similar view in regard to the European species. Omitting the species with permanent teeth on the shaft of the vomer (subgenus _Salar_), he finds among the salmon proper only two species, _Salmo salar_ and _Salmo trutta_. The latter species, the sea-trout or salmon-trout of England and the estuaries of northern Europe, is similar to the salmon in many respects, but has rather smaller scales, there being fourteen in an oblique series between the adipose fin and the lateral line. It is not so strong a fish as the salmon, nor does it reach so large a size. Although naturally anadromous, like the true salmon, landlocked forms of the salmon-trout are not uncommon. These have been usually regarded as different species, while aberrant or intermediate individuals are usually regarded as hybrids. The salmon-trout of Europe have many analogies with the steelhead of the Pacific.