50 FISH HARVESTING. 
salmon after leaving the egg, is a query more 
easily asked than answered. ‘There are no snug 
breeding-ponds, no cosy little aquariums or 
water-nurseries, where the baby-salmon may be 
watched and carefully tended until, honoured 
with. a badge, it is sent away to travel through 
pelagic meadows, deep-sea forests, and ocean 
gardens, where, growing rapidly, bigger if not 
wiser, it returns to tell how long it has been 
away, and how rapidly it has grown. As- 
sistance such as this falls not to the lot of the 
hunter-naturalist, who with prying eye peers, 
searches, and grubs about on the banks and into 
the depths of the lakes and mountain-torrents, 
in this far-western wilderness. Had he the 
eyes of Argus, he could only register a few 
hasty observations, and generalise on their value: 
he has no opportunities for investigations, such 
as they have, who at home can watch the egg 
their very parlours, gradually shaping itself into 
the quaint little salmon; see it come from out 
the ege-case with its haversack of provender, 
wonderfully provided to supply its wants, until 
able to live by its own teeth and industry; track 
its growth and habits through its youthful days; 
then, marking it with a leaden medal, send it off 
to sea, to welcome it back after its wanderings a 
full-erown salmon. 
