How to obtain it. 287 



hand, suggestions are made in certain quarters that the fishing 

 season be curtailed. The way of escape is by cultivation. This 

 is the key to the situation. The great fecundity of the fish, and 

 the enormous loss of life that takes place if left to Nature, at once 

 point to this, and now that we know how to deal with the matter 

 there is good reason for engaging in the work. 



The guillemot and some other sea birds lay but one egg, or 

 rear but one young one in a season, and yet they are extremely 

 abundant in their localities. The wood pigeon lays but two eggs,. 

 and probably a pair of birds will not succeed in rearing, on an 

 average, more than two or three couples of young ones in a year, 

 whilst an elephant is said to have but half-a-dozen in a lifetime of 

 a century. Now, the young of animals and birds are cared for by 

 the parents until they are really capable of caring for themselves, 

 A salmon, on the other hand, deposits, say, ten thousand eggs> 

 but they are not cared for by the parents, and, therefore, only ten 

 of these, according to Buckland and others, arrive at a state of 

 maturity. I daresay this is not far from the truth. A salmon / J 

 does not necessarily spawn every year. 



We find, then, that the rate of increase amongst salmon and 

 amongst some birds is not so dissimilar as might at first sight be 

 supposed. The case, indeed, seems narrowed down to this, that 

 a pair of salmon in one year add five pairs only to the stock. If 

 the above estimate be correct, and I think it is rather above 

 the mark on some rivers, it is clear that there is a tendency to 

 increase, and we know that in some parts of the world, as, for 

 instance, in the rivers of Alaska, the salmon have increased so 

 enormously that some streams are at times almost blocked by 

 them. 



We do not know exactly what is the cause of this excessive 

 increase, nor how long it has been going on, but apparently 

 something has happened that has interfered with Nature's balance 

 (I shall, however, have more to say about these Alaskan rivers 

 presently). Some check has evidently been taken away that has 

 allowed the salmon to increase as they have done. It is, I 

 think, more than probable that the excessive destruction of seals 

 that has been taking place during late years has much to do 

 with it. 



