COLLECTION OF EGGS OF SCHOODIC SALMON. 913 



the smelts enter small tributary brooks to spawn, and the salmon are 

 then taken around the mouths of the brooks and found to be gorged 

 with smelts. 



At the time of the spring migration, the salmon tha take part in it are 

 generally in their highest physical condition, heavier (iu proportion to their 

 length, at least), aud more active than at any other season. The sexes 

 are not easily distiuguished. Both are of a tine silvery color, white be- 

 neath, bluish or greenish-gray above, with black spots on the sides and 

 backs. Compared with sea-goiug salmon, they are only oue-sixth or one- 

 eighth as large, but in appearance and action the resemblance is very 

 close. They are less fat and the flavor of the flesh is thought to be more 

 delicate. By old salmon fishermen the fish is thought to bear a striking 

 resemblance to the grilse or partly-grown salmon of Canadian rivers. 

 In purely game qualities, probably this fish has no superior, and no 

 equal among the salmonidae of the United States. When in season, the 

 fly is taken eagerly, and when hooked the fish fights fiercely, leaping 

 repeatedly into the air to free itself. The average weight, at this season, 

 of the fish frequenting Grand Lake Stream would, I think, be very near 

 a pound and a half. Those of Dobsis Lake and of West Musquash 

 Lake are somewhat larger, while those of Pleasant Lake are smaller.* 



The approach of cool weather in September is the signal for the com- 

 mencement of the autumn migration. In Grand Lake stream a very few 

 fish are first seen in the stream, or reconnoitering the approaches to it, 

 very early in the month. Their numbers slowly increase, and if their way 

 is unobstructed, they pass down and soon occupy the whole length of the 

 stream, feeding ^11 the time when opportunity offers. They become 

 daily more plenty until spawning begins, which is between October 20 

 and 31. Though many have by this date already sought the stream, 

 there is still a larger number of spawners waiting their development in 

 the lake, and not descending into the stream until their maturity is 

 close at hand. The date of the spawning varies somewhat from year to 

 year. In general, it may be said that the greater part of the fish spawn 

 between November 1 and 10 ; but the operation goes on actively until 

 the 15th, and a few fish are later still than that. In some seasons a large 

 part of the spawn is believed to be laid during the last half of Novem- 

 ber. The phenomena thus far observed seem to indicate that warm 

 weather hastens the spawning, and cold weather retards it. Thus, in 

 1875 more than half of the spawn obtained at Grand Lake stream was 

 taken after November 23, while in 1876 not any was taken so late as 

 that. 



The migrations into Grand Lake stream are, in the main, downward 

 movements from Grand Lake. It is not known whether any fish ascend 



*The Union Kiver and Sebago varieties attain a much larger size. In 1867 I 

 observed the Sebago fish through the spawning season, and found the average weight 

 of the males to be about five pounds, of the females a little more than three pounds 

 and single specimens have been taken weighing seventeen aud a half pounds. 



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