70 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 



that they do not make a habit of feeding, though they 

 may occasionally seize food, is overwhelming. Thousands 

 of fish have been examined in fresh water, and have 

 been found to contain no food in the stomach, nor any 

 evidence of digested food in the alimentary tract ; 

 whereas in the sea, salmon have been frequently taken 

 containing six and seven herrings inside them. 



Further, after a fish has been in fresh water for some 

 time, the lining of the stomach is in a crinkled, contracted 

 state, conclusively showing that food has not been taken 

 for some considerable time. 



I attribute the non-feeding of salmon in fresh water 

 to the fact that on their return from the sea they are 

 ill at ease. This may be partly because they have come 

 up to spawn and partly because the environments in a 

 river do not suit them after their long sojourn in the 

 sea. When a fish is uncomfortable, or does not feel at 

 home in his surroundings, he ceases to feed, and hunger 

 in itself will never drive a fish to feed so long as this 

 feeling of strangeness remains upon him. 



I make this statement after observations upon various 

 wild fish turned into the pond as opposed to those 

 received from hatcheries. As one example of these 

 observations, I will take the case of a half-pound brown 

 trout caught on a fly and turned into the pond. This 

 fish hid up and sulked for four days in a patch of weeds 

 within a few feet of where the other trout in the pond 

 were regularly fed. On the fifth and sixth day he 

 emerged from hiding, and swam about with the other 



