NATURAL SPAWNING. 65 



up and down the stream, explore every foot of the bottom, 

 turning over the gravel'with their long beaks, and leaving 

 very few of the eggs to hatch. The number of spawn 

 which a Trout will giv-e has been variously estimated. 

 They will commence spawning at two years old if well fed 

 and large. It has been asserted that eggs have been taken 

 from a Trout one year old, or rather taken in the winter 

 of the same year in which it was hatched. This may be 

 so, but it is more interesting in a physiological point of view 

 than for any practical purpose, as there are so few that it 

 is not worth while to take them. A Trout two years old 

 will give from two liundred to five hundred eggs, a three 

 year old from five hundred to one thousand eggs, a four or 

 five year old from one thousand to two thousand eggs. This 

 is only an approximation, as the number of spawn depends 

 upon the weight and health of the fish, and not on its age. 

 In some cases the number of eggs is much greater, but 

 four thousand is the most I have ever taken from a Trout. 

 In estimating the number of spawn from a given number 

 offish in a pond, it must be remembered that some are 

 barren, and some diseased, and some, perhaps, will not go 

 up into the race. So that the average yield of two and three 

 year olds, (females only counted), will not be over ^ye 

 hundred, of four and five year olds, not over one thousand 

 each. The proportion of males to females in a pond should 

 be about one half. Not so many are necessary to fecun- 

 date the eggs, and it would be an advantage in one way 

 to have fewer, since then there would not be so much fiorht- 

 ing in choosing partners, and as all the females do not 

 spawn at once, one male would be enough to serve several 

 females ; but, on the other hand, the males seem to run 

 out of milt before the females get through laying their 

 eggs, and towards the close of the season it is often diffi- 

 cult to obtain males with milt enough to fecundate the 

 eggs ; so that it seems better to have in the pond an equal 



