THE KELT AND MORTALITY AFTER SPAWNING. 69 



not commence until about five months after the eggs were first deposited in the river. 

 The length of this period depends a good deal on the temperature of the water, and in 

 very cold rivers the length of time before feeding commences will be prolonged. This, 

 again, is a wonderful provision of Nature. If eggs deposited in November were to hatch 

 out, say, in December, and if the small fish required food immediately, it would probably 

 die, for there would be very little food for it. As it is, the eggs do not hatch until February, 

 and no food is required until about April, when food-suppUes are more plentiful. Nature 

 therefore arranges matters to suit the food conditions. 



The Kelt and Mortality After Spawning. 



The term 'kelt,' is the generally adopted Scottish name for the spent salmon. 'The 

 salmon seen on their return to the sea are always in a miserable condition; thin, black, 

 and weak, and poorer than at the completion of the act of spawning,' wrote Atkins 

 (1874, p. 335). 



According to various observers kelts are prone to Unger in the streams long after 

 breeding, or, at least, very slowly make their way to the sea. Atkins (1874, p. 334-335) 

 beUeved that having finished spawning a part of the salmon probably immediately drop 

 down to the sea, but he was certain that a part Unger in the rivers until spring and then 

 descend. He stated that every year a few descending salmon are caught in weirs on the 

 Penobscot, generally early in May. He mentioned that many of the salmon placed in 

 the pond at Bucksport and not taken out again in the faU remained of their own accord 

 through the winter and only left on occasion of floods in the spring. This is in accord 

 with Day's (1887, p. 74) statement that '. . . when descending seawards, it would 

 appear that the salmon usually pass gradually into salt water, but a heavy flood some- 

 times carries weak fish down stream.' Atkins said that the sahnon kept over winter in 

 the ponds at Bucksport lost weight meanwhile, but had regained, to a great extent, the 

 bright, silvery color of the fresh-run fish. 



'After the exhausting labours of spawning,' writes Hutton (1924, p. 43-44), 'the spent 

 fish, or kelts as they are called, drop back into quiet pools where they remain for a long 

 time gradually recuperating. I have known of one case where a fish remained in the 

 same pool for three months. The whole of the functions of the body gradually recover, 

 and the scales again become bright and silvery, and they start on their return journey 

 to the sea, some of them httle better than Uving corpses. This second downward migra- 

 tion generally takes place in February, March, and April. I have never seen a kelt in 

 our water so late as May, but I understand that there are a good many to be found lower 

 down the river, nearer to the sea, in that month. I should think that after Maj^ there 

 are very few kelts to be found in the Wye.' 



'It is worth noting that kelts show quite visible development of the new ovaries for the 

 next spawning operations, which may not take place for eighteen months, or even more. 

 One also frequently finds several of the old eggs which have not been shed. As far as I 

 can judge, the migration of kelts is only partially affected by floods. They go down when 



