218 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



pond liad no food while in confinement, which, in some instances, lasted 

 from the 1st of September to the middle of November, two months and 

 a half. Of the fall runs of fish from tide-water to the spawning-beds 

 the most numerous were between September 27 and October 4. We 

 twice caught a hundred salmon a night at this time in our stake-net set 

 across the river. 



The eggs of these salmon vary very much in size, some not being 

 larger than small trout-eggs, others being a third larger than the aver- 

 age size of salmon-eggs. The fishermen claim that they can distinguish 

 a Restigouche salmon from a Mii'amichi salmon, when one of the former 

 straysinte the Miramichi. 



In September large numbers of salmon lie in the holes a few miles 

 below the spawning-beds, waiting for a rise of water. When the rain 

 comes and the water rises, they rush up over the rapids to their spawn- 

 ing-grounds in great numbers. The salmon on the Miramichi were 

 caught in 1868 by the whites, mostly in stake-nets running out from 

 the shore about 250 feet. The Indians speared them. We found good • 

 and abundant milt in the male grilse. I never saw a female grilse in 

 the Miramichi. If I recollect rightly, I have seen milt in a salmon-parr. 



The habits of these salmon about spawning, and in general, resemble 

 those of eastern salmon elsewhere. The number of eggs in a fish is 

 about 1,000 to the pound. See Canadian fishery reports for information 

 about modes of capture, &c, &c. 



