NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAR. 187 



shed on the slightest pressure ; while in the few 

 females that are taken_and these are not one to 

 ten of the males — the roe is so backward as to 

 be detected only on close, almost microscopic 

 examination. To this apparent anomaly may be 

 attributed almost all the existing uncertainty as 

 to the nature and habits of this little fish. 



It is a well-established fact, that many fish will 

 not take food in an advanced state of parturition ; 

 of this, the salmon itself is a very strong instance. 

 In the fresh water (to which it resorts during 

 that period), although abounding with small fish, 

 the salmon is ever found with an empty stomach ; 

 whereas, the stomachs of such as are taken in the 

 estuaries and tide-ways, are frequently full of 

 whitings, haddocks, sand-eels, and other fish ; 

 showing, as might be expected, from the rapidity 

 of its growth, the construction of its jaws, throat, 

 teeth, &c., that it is really a fish of most voracious 

 habits. Again, there are other fish, the male only 

 of which, during the period of parturition, will 

 feed, and this is particularly the case with the 

 grayling. On the approach of the spawning 

 season, the female wholly ceases to rise at the fly, 

 or take a bait, although the male, during that 

 period, will greedily do both. If these habits be 

 peculiar to the par also, the great preponderance 

 of males taken, as well as the apparent discrepancy 

 between the state of the male and female at that 



