550 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



sistible lure (bait) for trout and salmon, as well as other fishes. Such is 

 the case in countries with much milder winters than we have. How 

 great a j)ortion of the young are eaten in the space of the first year, when 

 they stay unprotected in their native plaice, we have naturally no certain 

 knowledge of; it is i^robable that at least half are eaten or destroyed by 

 the above-named causes under the water, as may frequently happen. 

 With us, at all events, over the greatest portion of the country, we have 

 cold winters, which produce bottom ice, and at least spring drifting 

 of the ice to a considerable degreCj which as a rule always comes in con- 

 tact with and ti^verses the best spawning places of the trout or other 

 salmonoid fishes, which are besides readily laid bare in the course of the 

 winter. 



But suppose that the eggs and the young fish endure being locked 

 up in the ice without dying, they will by no means endure the drifting 

 of the ice or lying bare in the frost. In this way the profit or product 

 of natural culture becomes so uncertain that it cannot be depended upon 

 to give any result which in any way can or ought to be taken into con- 

 sideration. It seems to me that the confidence in the rajM increase of 

 the abundance of fish through natural culture fully corresponds with 

 the confidence of^he farmer who thinks that the garnering of prema- 

 ture corn will be sufficient provision of seed for the coming year's har- 

 vest. On the other hand, a long experience has now established that 

 one, if he manages things with i^roper care in all necessary directions, 

 may safely count upon about ninety-five young from a hundred eggs, 

 and that one can rear these young ones under proper conditions through 

 a year with a loss of only five per cent. The artificial culture also is as 

 safe, the natural aiS unsafe, as i^ossible. 



Since this is the case, one has it also in his power by labor and out- 

 lay, which are inconsiderable, to procure all the young that he con- 

 siders necessary for stocking a fishing-stream with perfect certainty, 

 provided one can procure the necessary quantity of eggs ; all regard for 



disturbed; but the males are for the most part occupied in driving away rivals, wbo 

 pry around. It is cvirious to see a little male by the side of a large female. Under 

 ordinary circumstances tlie smaller male respectfully gives way to the larger, but at 

 the pairing time the smaller will in an instant attack one tbree times as large as him- 

 self, should he approach to within a few feet of the female ; as a rule the male is fully 

 occuiiied in driving away rivals. \Vhen these are numerous the female will often 

 come to the help of her chosen mate. But after the female has selected a consort 

 there is no longer any contest ; the disappointed males fly as soon as the consort makes 

 a show of attack; they apj)ear to respect the intimate union. The female meanwhile 

 forms a nest, which consists simply of a shallow depression 6 to 8 inches in diameter 

 and 2 to 3 inches deep. It is constructed in this way : the female thrusts her nose 

 down in the gravel and iiushes it aside with her tail as she raises her head again. 

 Tins work goes on many daj-s until the cavity is large enough for her. After they 

 have laid over the nest for some time the female is ready to dej)osit a portion of her 

 eggs. The male seems to know this instinctively, because whereas he had been busy 

 expelling rivals, he is then always at the female's side, and the instant she lays her 

 eggs he allows his milt to flow over them. 



''When the eggs are dci^osited the male forsakes the female, who thereupon covers 



