1 68 The Pacific Salmon 



blood. Its flesh becomes less and less red, and 

 the fish becomes thinner as it advances up-stream. 

 In most rivers the salmon arrives on the spawning 

 beds in fair condition, but by the time it has 

 located on the spawning grounds at the head 

 waters of the larger streams it is not merely ema- 

 ciated, but starved and diseased, and its generally 

 run-down condition is shown in the sores and 

 injuries on its body from head to tail. " Worn 

 to a frazzle " is an expression that might have 

 originated in a description of a Pacific salmon 

 late in the spawning season and far up-stream. 



In the process of evolution the salmon may 

 have lost the desire to feed in fresh water through 

 the competition met with in the ascent of the 

 rivers, the great distances to be traversed, and the 

 lack of food in any stream necessary to supply as 

 greatly increased a population of fishes as occurs 

 in the spawning season. Any one who has seen 

 the virgin salmon streams of Alaska knows that no 

 stream could contain food for the legions crowded 

 between its banks at spawning time. If ani- 

 mals remain for a time where there is no food to 

 be had, they must do without it. This is not only 

 true of anadromous fishes, but is illustrated in 

 the case of the male fur seals, which when on 



