326 SEVENTH" REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



the tail. The period of egg-depositing lasts from 5 to 12 days. The spawning 

 season begins about the middle of October and may run into December. In some 

 European rivers the season continues till February. The eggs are about one-fourth 

 of an inch in diameter, and the female is estimated to have about 1,000 for each 

 pound of her weight. In the Penobscot, according to the observations of Mr. 

 Atkins, an eight-pound female yields from 5,000 to 6,000 eggs; and a female of 40 

 pounds about 15,000 eggs. The hatching period ranges from 140 to 200 days or 

 more, depending on the temperature. A newly hatched Salmon is about three- 

 fourths of an inch long, and the yolk sac is absorbed in from a month to si.x weeks. 

 It then begins to feed on small organisms in the water. At the age of two months 

 it measures i}4 inches and begins to show crossbars and red spots, gradually coming 

 into the parr stage. In the sea the Salmon feeds on herring, capelin, sand lance, 

 smelt and other small fishes, besides crustaceans ; but during its stay in fresh water 

 it takes no food. 



Among the worst enemies of salmon eggs are trout, eels, suckers and frogs. 

 Numerous species of birds destroy the fry, among them sheldrakes, kingfishers, 

 gulls and terns. 



The value of the Salmon as a food and game fish is so well known as to require 

 no description here. Those that find their way into market are usually caught in 

 pound nets, gill nets or seines, and the bulk of them are taken at or near the mouths 

 of the streams which they are about to enter for the purpose of spawning. Many 

 are captured in the upper reaches of streams by the spear. 



Mitchill, in the first volume of the Transactions of the Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society of New York, says that the Salmon " has been taken, since the 

 discovery, a few times in the Hudson. But here he is a straggling fish, and not in 

 his regular home. There is no steady migration of Salmon to this river. Though 

 pains have been taken to cherish the breed, the Salmon has never frequented the 

 Hudson in any other manner than as a stray." 



In 1842 DeKay published the following note: 



The Sea Salmon rarely now. appears on our coast except as a straggling visitor. 

 Such an occurrence took place in August, 1840, when a Salmon weighing eight 

 pounds entered the Hudson River, and ascended it more than 150 miles, when it 

 was taken near Troy. * * * it now is only seen on our northern borders, 

 ascending the St. Lawrence from the sea, and appearing in Lake Ontario in April, 

 and leaving it again in October or November. They were formerly very abundant 

 in the lakes in the interior of the State which communicated with Lake Ontario ; 

 but the artificial impediments thrown in their way have greatly decreased their 



