198 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
animals, feeble as we must judge their intelligence to be, 
careless as they appear in sowing their spawn broadcast to the 
mercy of the seasons—yet salmon understand the business of 
reproduction. It is true that the redd is sometimes made in 
such thin water that it is laid dry in time of drought. Dr. 
Day quotes Mr. Brander as having examined a redd in such 
a condition. He found plenty of moisture under the gravel, 
and “having scraped a hole, he obtained a considerable 
number of eggs, which he transferred to a pail of water, where 
two-thirds hatched within periods varying from five minutes 
to twenty-four hours. About a week later he returned to 
the spot, and had another dig for salmon eggs, no rise having 
occurred in the river during the interval. He collected 
more, and put them in water, when they hatched as the 
others had done.” It seems, then, that when a redd is 
laid dry on the surface, the hatching is retarded until such 
time as the water overflows it again, when the fry come 
out quickly. 
The effort of spawning is an extremely exhausting one, 
and could scarcely be otherwise, seeing that the ovaries are 
often one-fifth or even one-fourth the total weight 
of the female. Yet it is not among the females 
that the subsequent mortality is greatest. Both sexes, after 
spawning, drop back into still, deep water to recruit. They 
are exceedingly emaciated, and between this time and their 
return to the sea are known as kelts, and are protected under 
various statutes. Their skins retain for a short time only the 
dark tints they acquired before the breeding season ; gradually, 
but rather quickly, these fade away, and the scales regain the 
silvery lustre of the sea fish. Kelts are very uncertain in the 
rate of their progression to salt water. Some fish drop down 
and disappear immediately after spawning in November and 
December ; others linger long in the pools, and may be 
encountered by anglers throughout the spring months. Their 
lean forms, coupled with the pertinacity they sometimes show 
Kelts. 
~~ 
ee 
ad ww ere wes = 
