CHAPTER XII 



THE SALMON-FISHERY 

 BY W. T. GRENFELL 



OF the four varieties of salmon in Labrador, Salmo 

 salar y Salmo trutta, Salmo immaculatus, and Salmo hudson- 

 icus, only the first two are of commercial importance. 



Salmo solar is a noble fish. In strength, beauty, and 

 spirit he is certainly superior to any others in the Labrador 

 waters. He is found from end to end of the coast, but less 

 abundantly in the north, where he remains a shorter time 

 than in the south. He arrives during the period between 

 the latter part of June and the end of July ; and, after brows- 

 ing about on the coast for a month or so, proceeds up the 

 rivers to breed. It appears that for some time he runs in 

 and out of the river mouth, as if to accustom himself to 

 the change to fresh water. 



The salmon is really a river dweller, a luxurious fellow 

 with a winter home in the sea, but in most countries two- 

 thirds of his life is spent in the rivers. So strong a homing 

 instinct does he possess, that he can hardly be kept back 

 from returning to his own particular river, the place of his 

 birth and the abode of his first year. This has been shown 

 by marking live salmon taken at the head of a river, carrying 

 them around to another river, the source of which was quite 

 close to their own, but whose mouth was the opposite side of 

 a great stretch of land. Three weeks later some of the 

 marked fish were caught in their own pool again. In 



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