THE FRESH WATERS 171 



in a shallow part of the river the female sal- 

 mon lashes out a trough with her tail, and in it 

 deposits her eggs, moving gradually up stream 

 as she does so. The attendant male meantime 

 keeps all intruders fiercely at bay. After 

 spawning the salmon are much exhausted, and 

 they linger for a time in the deep pools to re- 

 cover, but they do not begin to feed actively 

 even then, and many of them die of weakness 

 or disease on their way back to the sea. 



The young fry emerge in early spring and, 

 for the first few weeks, remain quietly hidden 

 among the gravel, depending for nourishment 

 on the stores laid up for them in the egg, and 

 now attached to their bodies as a yolk-sac. 

 When the yolk is exhausted, and they are 

 about an inch long, they become more active, 

 and seek for their own food. During all this 

 time both eggs and fry are preyed upon by 

 many enemies, of which the eels, pike, and 

 fish-eating birds probably do most damage. 

 But the young ones that are left, now known 

 as "parr," continue to feed and grow for a 

 couple of years, and then, assuming more sil- 

 very hues, descend as " smolts " to the sea. At 

 this stage they are about 6 or 7 inches long, 

 but the abundance of food in the sea, where 



