20 THE SPORTING FISH 



If the egg escapes these perils, and having per- 

 formed its protective mission releases its charge in 

 due course, fresh dangers await the delicate and 

 immature nursling. Again, the trout and the wild- 

 duck, and even the parent salmon themselves, hunt 

 it out in its sheltering creeks and crevices ; and 

 hundreds of fry are daily sacrificed on a single 

 spawning-bed by this means. Last of all comes 

 man, who wantonly, either for amusement or for 

 the sake of a single dish, fills his basket with pro- 

 duce which, if allowed to pass to the sea, would 

 have returned in a few weeks worth a pocketful of 

 gold. With these various enemies besetting every 

 period of their existence, it ceases to be a matter 

 of surprise that the percentage of fry attaining the 

 Grilse state should be as trifling as it is ; the only 

 wonder is that it is not still smaller. 



Many causes of destruction, however, menace 

 the ova of the Salmon besides those enumerated : 

 a winter flood perhaps sweeps down the river, and 

 buries a whole brood under a foot of sand-drift ; 

 not only the duck and the grebe, but all sorts of 

 water-fowl and amphibia perform their share of 

 the work of depredation ; and though we know but 

 little of the habits of the Smolts when once in the 

 salt water, it may be conjectured that their adver- 

 saries here are not less active and numerous than 

 those of the river. 



To revert to the spawning-beds. 



In from 40 to 60 days after being first deposited 



