284 How to obtain it. 



have seen them do it, but the eggs will in such a case probably be 

 lost to the river. And it is better that they should be, for they 

 would most likely only have produced a poor lot of fish. There 

 is such a strong migratory instinct implanted in the salmon, such 

 a desire naturally to push up rivers, that when I see them just 

 entering a river and then depositing their ova, I am led to the 

 conclusion that probably some of these may not be the best fish 

 from which to propagate. I have observed something of the 

 kind amongst trout, fish that are not in " good form," and will in 

 consequence deposit their ova anywhere, so to speak. 



Then as regards the fish that push up to the extreme head 



waters of a river. The migratory instinct may. be a good thing, 



but there is an old saying that reminds us that it is possible to 



have " too much " even " of a good thing." My experience is 



that in some rivers at least these fish are late spawners. They 



are often also small in size ; it is perhaps somewhat natural that 



they should be so. Their size and the extra energy which they 



j exhibit points to the fact that they may be young fish, and fish 



I culture teaches us that some young fish spawn later than the older 



1 ones. We know also that eggs taken from young fish are not so 



good by a great deal as those taken from middle-aged fish. Such 



points as these seem to have been very much overlooked in the 



past by many collectors, and yet to the fish culturist they are 



known to be of vital importance. 



Times and seasons for collecting ova have often been beyond 

 consideration ; that is to say, because eggs could not be got at the 

 right time and place, owing perhaps to floods or other causes, 

 therefore the hatching boxes have been filled with any eggs that 

 could be obtained, irrespective of the source from which they 

 came, or the time when they were taken. Now if there be any 

 lesson that fish culturists have learned it is that this sort of thing 

 will not do. I have learned it for one, and that years ago, and at 

 considerable cost to myself, for I have had the battle to fight very 

 often single-handed, whilst those who ought to have rendered 

 help often ran away instead. 



To get on the " wrong tack " in fish culture often means to 

 get far out of one's " course " ; indeed, there are many who have 

 held on until they have found themselves on a " lee shore," and 



