98 BULLETIN ON THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Among other things it seems to be a general impression that a heavy spate 

 causes a good run of fish up a river. I believe that in many instances this is 

 so, but I hud that there are exceptions to this rule, and nature seems to have an 

 unerring code of laws governing these migrations. Sometimes a heavy spate occurs 

 without any fish running. I believe I am right in saying that the bulk of the salmon 

 entering our rivers only run on spring tides, and on those tides preceding the highest 

 spring more than the two or three tides after the highest spring. And if the infiow 

 of the spring tide be accompanied by a strong westerly wind on our west coast rivers, 

 more fish come up than if there be no wind at all ; and should the wind happen to be 

 from the eastward, a very much smaller number would come up. Now, what effect 

 has the wind on the tide? A strong westerly wind causes the tide in our rivers to 

 rise higher, to flow longer, and to remain high longer; and if the fish run, as they 

 appear to do, on the top or head of the tide, as it were, a westerly wind, causing the 

 tide to flow even half an hour longer, would give a chance for far more fish to get up 

 than if it had stopped at the ordinary time. 



It is supposed, generally, that salmon only run with the flood; that if they find 

 the tide ebbing they turn back to the sea and run up with the next tide. The larger 

 run of fish is therefore accounted for by the longer time they have to run. More fish 

 come up from neap to spring than when the tides are falling off from spring to neap, 

 and during that period of time the only tides upon which fish will run to any extent 

 are those just after the highest spring. Should a land spate occur at the same time 

 a very good run of fish may be looked for, especially if it be accompanied by a west 

 or southwest wind. In many instances I am exceedingly sorry to say a land spate is 

 almost a necessity in many of the rivers to enable the fish to get through the pollu- 

 tions and over the numerous obstacles which they meet with in their ascent. 



It has been said sometimes that fish can smell the rain, and certainly they often 

 appear to know beforehand when it is coming. 1 have reason to believe that fish 

 sometimes run into a river, anticipating a spate. So trout in a pond will sometimes 

 become very restless, and run up the raceways and then, in an hour or two, down comes 

 the rain. It is most important to get reports from streams Avhich are in a state of 

 nature, unpolluted and unmolested, as far as possible. Such is the stream which 

 passes near my own hatchery, and on which I am a riparian owner. It is a small 

 stream and only frequented by a few salmon ; fewer, I believe, than in former years. 

 During one spawning season I personally devoted a considerable amount of time to 

 studying the habits of the salmon in this stream. I believe I made the acquaintance 

 of every salmon that passed up that stream for about a month. As a rule, I found that 

 they did not run by day, but by night. Only during a heavy spate would they run by 

 day. During some nights they did not run at all, on other nights several went up. 

 The early fish were nearly all males; indeed it was quite exceptional to get a female 

 early in the season. Later on I found both sexes coming up. 1 found, also, that they 

 almost invariably ran on spring tides, and that they did so whether there was a spate 

 or not. A westerly gale during spring tides was followed, as I expected, by a good 

 run of fish. I noticed one pair of fish particularly, that came towards the end of the 

 season; they had evidently, from some cause, been prevented ascending the stream 

 before. They went upstream until they came to a place that suited their ideas, and 

 there they stopped and constructed a redd and deposited their ova. The operation 

 took about a week. I then took away the female and confined her in a tank, and waited 



