1 1 8 Salmonidae 



They come waddling into the yard, the three birds with which 

 we are to do our fishing. Black cormorants they are, each with 

 a white spot behind its eye, and a hoarse voice, come of standing 

 in the water, with which it says y-eugh whenever a stranger 

 makes a friendly overture. The cormorants answer to the 

 name of Ou, which in Japanese is something like the only word 

 the cormorants can say. The boy puts them in a box together 

 and we set off across the drifted gravel to the Tamagawa. Ar- 

 rived at the stream, the boy takes the three cormorants out of 

 the box and adjusts their fishing-harness. This consists of a 

 tight ring about the bottom of the neck, of a loop under each 

 wing, and a directing line. 



Two other boys take a low net. They drag it down the 

 stream, driving the little fishes ayu, zakko, hae, and all the 

 rest before it. The boy with the cormorants goes in advance. 

 The three birds are eager as pointer dogs, and apparently full 

 of perfect enjoyment. To the right and left they plunge with 

 lightning strokes, each dip bringing up a shining fish. When 

 the bird's neck is full of fishes down to the level of the shoulders, 

 the boy draws him in, grabs him by the leg, and shakes him 

 unceremoniously over a basket until all the fishes have flopped 

 out. 



The cormorants watch the sorting of the fish with eager 

 eyes and much repeating of y-eugh, the only word they know. 

 The ayu are not for them, and some of the kajikas and hazes 

 were prizes of science. But zakko (the dace) and hae (the 

 minnow) were made for the cormorant. The boy picks out 

 the chubs and minnows and throws them to one bird and then 

 another. Each catches his share on the fly, swallows it at one 

 gulp, for the ring is off his neck by this time, and then says 

 y-eugh, which means that he likes the fun, and when we are 

 ready will be glad to try again. And no doubt they have tried 

 it many times since, for there are plenty of fishes in the Jewel 

 River, zakko and hae as well as ayu. 



Fossil Salmonidae. Fossil salmonidae are rare and known 

 chiefly from detached scales, the bones in this family being 

 very brittle and easily destroyed. Nothing is added to our 

 knowledge of the origin of these fishes from such fossils. 



A large fossil trout or salmon, called Rhabdofario lacustris, 



