SALMON A FRESH-WATER FISH. 219 



remain for several days stationary in the same 

 pools. 



In conclusion, I will state, that salmon should 

 be considered a fresh-water fish. In fresh water 

 it is bred, and in fresh water it remains on a ge- 

 neral average ten months out of the twelve. The 

 notion that salmon return from the sea to fresh 

 water for the mere or immediate purpose of spawn- 

 ing is erroneous. Fish that return in the early 

 months have their spawn in an incipient state of 

 development, and to mature it and fit it for depo- 

 sition, a period of four, five, and six months is 

 frequently required. The truth is, salmon leave 

 the sea when instinct tells them they are suffi- 

 ciently high fed or fattened to the proper pitch na- 

 ture requires, and of course for their retirement no 

 spots can be more germane than those in w^hich 

 they have been bred, or in which they have previ- 

 ously long sojourned. Those salmon, it is true, that 

 return to fresh water late in the season have ova 

 far advanced towards maturity, and leave the sea 

 not long before the spawning season. They are 

 those exceptional fish which scarcity of food at 

 sea, or other causes, innate or external, keep in 

 an ill-conditioned state longer than their fellows 

 which have fared and thrived better ; or, they are 

 those salmon that have remained longer than others 



