54 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 



fry, and on this nourishing diet they soon grow fat 

 and strong. 



As a rule, fry dart here, there and everywhere in 

 search of food, but occasionally several of them will 

 band together and systematically hunt corixce (water 

 beetles not unlike water-boatmen, but smaller in size). 

 The corixa, though small, is a valiant fighter, but as 

 soon as the young fish succeed in nipping off one of 

 his oars, he is at once disabled and at their mercy. 

 Then falling on him like a pack of hounds, they tear 

 him limb from limb. 



These foraging excursions soon add to the size and 

 strength of the alevins, but they also materially add to 

 their chances of destruction. At every corner a hungry 

 trout or some other fish is ready to snap them up, the 

 gaily painted kingfisher is on the look out for them by 

 day, and at night they have to avoid one of their worst 

 enemies, the eel. 



With the autumn, the adult mature trout again 

 comes up into the shallow water to spawn, aiid now the 

 fry have a lively time in picking up stray eggs, and in 

 avoiding the attentions of the hungry fish after they 

 have spawned. By the following spring the fry have 

 grown from three to seven inches in length, according 

 to the abundance of their food supply, and are known 

 as "yearlings." During the summer these yearlings 

 drop down into deeper waters, adding considerably to 

 the variety of their food, and to their already long list 

 of enemies. 



