136 SALMONIDES. 



out of season ; that is, come back the last of Sep- 

 tember and October, -and for the purpose, it is 

 thought, to rid themselves of their troublesome as- 

 sociates, which are known to die as soon as the 

 fish has been a few days in fresh water. 



In the rivers of Kamschatka, they are numer- 

 ous beyond all example, — even blocking up the 

 small rivulets into which they wedge themselves, 

 in trying to pass by the untold thousands on the 

 route. Such multitudes are 'thrown upon the 

 banks, by the pressure of the moving armies, and 

 left to die, that were it not for bears and dogs, 

 their bodies would create a pestilence. Such is 

 their antipathy to, or fear of everything red, that 

 before they can be caught successfully, in the 

 rivers of this country, the fishermen are said to di- 

 vest themselves of their red caps and shirts. 



Captain Charles Kendall, a respectable and in- 

 teUigent navigator of Boston, assured us that when 

 on the northwest coast of America, within a few 

 years, he stood in a small stream which came leap- 

 ino: down the crag^s of a mountain, in which these 

 delightful fishes were urging their way in such as- 

 tonishing crowds, with hardly water enough to 

 cover their backs, that he stood with an axe, and 

 killed hundreds of them as they passed between 

 his feet. 



He saw birds of prey dive down from the long 



I 



