56 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 



delicate silvery hues please the man who has an eye for 

 beauty, and the fact that his pink flesh goes so well with 

 sauce and cucumber undoubtedly adds to his popu- 

 larity. But it is the mystery that has long enshrouded 

 the life history of the salmon that makes him the centre 

 of attraction to those interested in fish ; a mystery that 

 is being slowly unravelled. 



The salmon is probably a fish of freshwater origin 

 that has acquired the habit of going to the sea in order 

 to obtain a more abundant food supply than is possible 

 in lakes and rivers. He returns from the sea to spawn 

 in fresh water, but there is evidence to show that not 

 infrequently salmon come into the rivers and return 

 again to the sea without spawning. This may be due 

 to a homing instinct on the part of the fish or to the 

 fact that, having fed to repletion in the sea, he returns 

 to fresh water to rest from his gluttony. 



The fish " run," that is, ascend into the rivers, during 

 every month in the year, but they mostly go up in 

 February and March, June and July, and in the autumn. 



The persistence with which salmon will attempt to 

 overcome every obstacle to their ascent into fresh water 

 is well known, and given a sufficient volume of water, it 

 is extraordinary the raging current they can swim 

 against. The height that a salmon can leap has been 

 greatly exaggerated, for a clear drop of five or six feet 

 is the maximum that the strongest of fish can success- 

 fully negotiate. This fish frequently leaps into the air 

 at other times than when attempting to overcome an 



