FEEDING HABITS. 33 



In 1932, June 2, off Cape Porpoise two and one-half pounds of salmon (number not 

 stated) were caught in mackerel gill nets by a small-boat fisherman; on June 8 the 

 schooner Reliance got one of 11 pounds east of Boon Island. On June 2, 1926, steamer 

 Elizabeth C. fishing with bottom gill nets on the 'Kettle Bottom,' ten miles south from 

 Seguin, in 70 fathoms, took one salmon of 20 pounds. On February 17, 1931, steamer 

 Pofisco, similarl}^ equipped, on 'Tanta,' 12 miles south from Cape EUzabeth, took a sal- 

 mon of ten pounds in 80 fathoms ; on March 1 the same vessel on the same ground took 

 two fish, one of ten, the other of 13 pounds; and April 2, the same vessel on the same 

 ground took one fish of 23 pounds. On June 11, 1932, steamer Richard J. caught one 

 salmon of 18 pounds 20 miles south from Portland Lightship and on June 13, the same 

 vessel in the same locality got one of 18J^'2 pounds, both in giU nets. 



On February 12, 1925, steamer Sea Gull, an otter trawler, took a large salmon on 

 Georges Bank, 172 miles southeast from Boston Lightship. In 1929 steamer Lewis M. 

 Winslow of Boston, reported to the United States Bureau of Fisheries that in the year's 

 catch of the vessel, 100 pounds of salmon, valued at S40, were taken in her otter trawl 

 on Georges Bank. On April 2, 1932, a ten-pound salmon was taken by the steam otter 

 trawler Tremont in the South Channel, 100 miles southeast from Highland Light, Cape 

 Cod. On April 7, of the same year, the steamer Brookline took a salmon of eight pounds 

 on La Have Bank, 100 miles south from Halifax, N. S., in her otter trawl. 



Feeding Habits. 

 Feeding in the Sea. 



'The salmon while it remains in the sea or in the brackish estuaries takes particular 

 dehght in feeding on crustaceans and their eggs, small shrimps, and young crabs [Goode 

 1884, p. 470].' This and similar statements concerning the food of the salmon have been 

 handed down in salmon literature from time immemorial. Owing to the fact that salmon 

 near shore or in the rivers were usually the only fish possible of observation concerning 

 their food, for a long time little was known. But in the light of more recent observations 

 it would seem that the foregoing bill of fare is somewhat incomplete. Day (1887, p. 107) 

 says that he had found the remains of sand eels, Ammodytes, herrings, and Crustacea in 

 their stomachs. Both Jardine and Thompson indicated that the salmon eat sand eels. 

 Morrison recorded salmon taken in tidal water which contained full-sized herring. 

 The British Museum has the remains of a silver gar, Belone, taken from a salmon in 

 fresh water, but just from the sea. 



The Fishing Gazette, December 20, 1879, mentions a 24-pound salmon which contained 

 two trout, each about one-sixth of a pound in weight. In a footnote Day (1887, p. 107) 

 cites the statement of a Mr. Gosden (Land and Water, March 8, 1886) to the effect that 

 in 1874 he opened 490 salmon in which he found eels, minnows, loach, gudgeon, sand 

 eels, shrimp, etc. 



Day (1887, p. 108) states that a fishmonger in the Promenade, Cheltenham, drew his 

 attention to the condition of the belly of a 12-pound clean male salmon, received by him 



