SOME LABRADOR RIVERS 



Lawrence, for forty-nine years guardian of the 

 Godbout salmon river, has written several 

 chapters on the salmon in a recent interesting 

 book. 1 He says that these fish move in from 

 the deeper waters of the gulf each year about 

 the middle of May to the shores on both the 

 north and south sides. To the west of Mingan 

 the salmon follow the coast up the St. Law- 

 rence River; at Mingan and below they follow 

 the coast to the eastward. All are intent on 

 entering the rivers to spawn, and this entrance 

 begins about the loth of June and continues 

 to the end of July. They remain in the estu- 

 aries of the rivers for some time before fighting 

 their way up the swift current and through 

 the rapids and falls of the rivers. The sites 

 chosen for spawning, which takes place in 

 September and October, are clear gravelly 

 bottoms where the current is fairly swift. In 

 the spring the salmon are in the best of con- 

 dition, fat and silvery, but towards the end 

 of October they are dark in colour and ema- 

 ciated and the males show " a snout like a pig 

 with an immense hook on the under jaw." " A 



1 Life and Sport on the North Shore of the Lower St. 

 Lawrence and Gulf, Quebec, 1909. 

 223 



