PROPAGATION OF SALMON ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 389 
ere should be no question as to which should receive the attention 
and protection of the Fish Commission. The Fort Gaston station is 
on the Trinity River, a tributary to the Klamath. The fish appear here 
learly in the winter months and again in the spring to spawn. 
, When the salmon enters the river and commences his long journey to 
the spawning-grounds it is truly the effort of his life, resulting in many 
eases in death from accident or exhaustion. During this time he eats 
‘nothing, a wise provision of nature, otherwise the spawn, which is the 
most attractive food for fish, would be consumed by the multitudes 
(which throng the streams during the spawning season. The salmon enter 
the river in good condition, well fortified with fat, upon which they 
maintain their strength, combined with the constant supply of nutriment 
from the destruction of the oil-bearing tissues which envelop the ovary 
and the outside membrane covering, the latter holding the eggs and 
ily essence surrounding them. Disintegration of the ovary adjuncts 
jand spermatic parts begins shortly after the fish enter the river, in both 
male and female, but the supply is not so great in the former, because 
ithe burden and exertion are less. 
The conjunction of natural causes in assisting the salmon in all his 
movements and in the manner of depositing the eggs is as interesting 
asitis beautiful. In the operation of spawning, from my own observa- 
tion, the salmon on arriving at the place selected remains quiet until 
recovered from the effects of the long journey from the sea, and for this 
purpose they select a pool where there is protection and concealment, 
under driftwood or an overhanging bank. In pairs, male and female, 
they build their nests generally in the swift water on the ripple above 
jor below the pool, the male guarding it with great jealousy by fighting 
faway all intruders. The pool serves as a place of concealment during 
ithe day; the spawning and nest-making takes place at night or early in 
the morning, continuing during the daytime if it is overcast and dark. 
[The act of spawning by the female may go on at intervals for a week 
‘before all the eggs are deposited. 
| The construction of the nest is commenced by digging an elongated 
‘hole, extending up and down the stream, and located in the swift water 
above or below the pool, the fish using the nose and fins in making 
‘the excavation, throwing out the sand and gravel in volumes in their 
effort. The stones and gravel are carried just below the excavation by 
‘the current, forming a nest covering a space sometimes more than 6 
feet in diameter, the small particles of sand and dirt being carried far 
idown the stream. 
_ It seems strange that a collection of stones and pebbles should form 
va fish nest, and it becomes a matter of speculation as to the manner of 
secreting the eggs under a mass of stones. Yet nature has made it 
very simple, and secured its results in a matter-of-fact way. The eggs 
jare deposited in the hole by the female and impregnated by the male. 
‘During the fertilization, which takes from half an hour to fifty minutes, 
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