100 SALMON AND TROUT IN ALASKA. 



enough to dislodge it readily cover and conceal it from the light. It 

 is probable that the dead eggs referred to above as seen in abundance 

 about a well-covered ground are as often the earlier deposits dug up 

 by later arrivals as eggs that have failed to be covered. Live eggs 

 are almost never seen among these, as should be the case if they are 

 of recent deposit. Uncovered eggs must eventuall}^ perish by the light 

 even if not consumed by egg-eating fishes and birds. In ordinary cur- 

 rents the eggs drift perhaps but a few feet. Very early the ridge 

 below the "nest" rises to a height that creates a bottom eddy, causing 

 the downward motion of the eggs to cease on its lower slope. For 

 this reason when one of these ridges is opened tlie greater number of 

 eggs ordinarily is found in its lower portion. 



During the season of spawning a well-covered ground becomes 

 throA\Ti, through the joint action of the fish and the current, into high 

 ridg-es, or hillocks, sometimes as much as 2^ feet above the corre- 

 sponding depressions or holes. Eggs may usually be found buried in 

 these ridges, but their semibuoyancy and spherical form make it quite 

 difficult in a current to recover them without a screen. The abun- 

 dance of dead eggs which at times collects in the eddies below these 

 ridges has been mentioned above. On Karluk Lake in 1903, in the 

 creek on which the spawners were counted, these beds were examined 

 by digging in the gravel to find the condition of the deposited eggs. 

 Between August 5 and September 2, 58 ''nests" were so examined. 

 In these were found 4,005 good eggs and 2,022 dead ones, or, in other 

 words, about two-thirds of the buried eggs were found to be in good 

 condition. On the latter date 587 eyed eggs were found under about 

 10 inches of gravel, with onh^ 13 dead ones. This demonstrates that 

 eggs will live and develop under proper conditions when deeply 

 buried. In another stream, in the center of a nest, under 6 inches of 

 gravel, only 29 of 620 eggs recovered were living. In a third bed of 

 1,140 eggs taken from the lower half of the nest, in a light current and 

 from under 7 inches of gravel, only 28 were dead. In general, the 

 observer records few eggs from locations in strong current; this was 

 possibly in part from failure to find the eggs as well as from their 

 scarcity. Most beds show a decided balance in favor of the good eggs. 

 In two examinations of the connecting stream from one of the 

 tributary lakes less than 4 per cent of the eggs were dead. 



COMPLETENESS OF SPAWNING. 



In 1903 a careful count was kept of the sockeyes spawning in one 

 stream of Karluk Lake, the second from the outlet on the right or east 

 side. This is a small creek, averaging some 10 feet in width, about 

 1 mile of which is used for spawning beds. From August 5 to Sep- 

 tember 5 of that year, 21,756 spawned fish were examined in this 

 creek, presumably the total number spa^^^ling there in that time and 

 practically the total for the season. Of these, males were in excess by 



