174 APPENDIX. 



ing. As soon as this is accomplished they fall back again to 

 the loch, not leaving it until that time next year, when in- 

 stinct again comes into action, compelling them to go through 

 the same process. By induction, because the month of No- 

 vember, by the laws of nature, is decidedly the month pecu- 

 liarly fitted for that operation to suit the instincts and habits 

 of the fish, as well as to guard against the severity of Decem- 

 ber frosts ; as when the fords are bound up with ice in winter, 

 the progress of spawning would be utterly put a stop to. In 

 early rivers the salmon come to them early in the season, and 

 will, as a natural consequence, commence probably to spawn 

 a fortnight earlier, and in late rivers a fortnight later ; but 

 in no river will the spawning operation proceed when the 

 river is covered with ice ; and Nature foresaw this contingency 

 when it appointed the month of November. Besides, the 

 uniform progressive growth of the roe towards maturity, gradu- 

 ally increasing from January in the salmon, and May in the 

 grilse, shows that of necessity it must be deposited in Novem- 

 ber as ova in the fords, for if it be delayed long beyond that 

 time it will become unproductive. 



M. Are there any peculiarities connected with the process of 

 spawning ? 



H. The same instinct prompts fish to prepare a place in the 

 gravel to deposit their ova that bestirs a bird to prepare a nest 

 for its eggs ; the only difference being that, living in opposite 

 elements, their mode of action must be different, inasmuch as 

 the bird builds its nest with its beak in carrying the materials, 

 and the action of the body to fashion its shape ; whereas the 

 salmon chiefly depends on the action of the water in assisting 

 the progress of its operation. 



M. That is the reason, I suppose, why salmon select fords 

 or the running stream, instead of still water, as most suitable 

 for their purpose ? 



H. Precisely so : two salmon, a milter and a spawner, in- 

 stinctively select a suitable situation in a ford, and by a 

 mutual impulse commence to agitate the sand by a vibratory 

 action of their fins, tails, and bodies, thereby stirring up the 

 gravel, and almost simultaneously throwing themselves by a 



