262 GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



" After they have ascended to their spawning beds it requires ten 

 or twelve days to fulfill their mission, and then they go back to the 

 sea. It takes the ova three or four months to hatch, according to 

 temperature, forty-five degrees being perhaps the most favorable. 

 In two months after the young fry leave the egg, they have grown 

 to an inch and a quarter in length ; in six months to three inches. 

 At the end of fourteen months one-half the family have completed 

 their parr * or infant stage, and go dOAvn to the sea as smolts, much 

 changed in their general appearance. The other half of the family 

 follow at the end of the second year, though a few will remain until 

 the fourth year. The smolt, in the nourishing waters of the briny 

 ocean gains a pound in weight per month, and toward the close 

 of summer returns to his birth-place in the blue and silver livery 

 of a grilse, and very like a salmon in appearance. The grilse tar- 

 ries in the upper river until the following spring, and then returns 

 again to the sea a full-grown salmon — three years being the time 

 required to reach his maturity. 



" The season of the year at which salmon spawn varies accord- 

 ing to geographical locality and temperature of water. For instance, 

 in the Port Medway River, Nova Scotia, salmon are taken with a 

 fiy in February, when the ice is running, while in the lower St. 

 Lawrence they are not taken until the middle of June. The time 

 of spawning often varies in the same river, and is determined by 

 the period at which impregnation has taken place. It is a peculiar 

 fact that the salmon propagates its kind before it is adult, the males 

 only, however, attaining sexual maturity. A portion of the " run " 

 thereupon being riper than others, spawn sooner, and having ful- 

 filled their mission, return at once to the sea, while their less for- 

 tunate kindred must continue their pilgrimage, perchance to head- 

 waters. Where the rivers are short, the salmon return merely 

 emaciated and reduced in weight ; but in the Columbia, which, 

 with its tributaries extends hundreds of miles, they die by millions, 

 worn-out and exhausted by their incredible journey." 



The recently conceived impression is that salmon spawn but 



* To an unaccustomed eye the parr resemble trout, and are often basketed by 

 anglers under the impression that they are trout, but they are readily distinguished 

 by their bright silvery scales which easily rub off when the fish is handled ; also 

 the spots on their sides are intensely carmine, and ranged in a horizontal line. 

 The body is more elongated, and there are other distinctive characteristics. 



