170 EARLY AND LATE SPAWNING. 



or nests are completely filled in and levelled, which 

 is of the greatest importance to the preservation 

 of the ova deposited underneath, as the fiercest 

 currents of water will pass over the completed 

 beds innocuously. These observations will be 

 fully comprehended by and by, when I come to 

 describe the process of nidification, or bed or nest- 

 making of salmon. 



Having touched upon the beneficial importance 

 of early spawning, I will mention some of the evil 

 effects of late spawning. When fish spawn late, 

 that is, in the winter months, or in the rainy, snowy, 

 or frosty season, they are in the first place almost 

 certain to have their operations disturbed or de- 

 stroyed by storms or floods ; their beds and ova 

 swept away during the progress of the execution 

 of the former, and the deposition of the latter. 

 In the second place, dry, wintry weather, which 

 at least in the North is invariably frosty, is almost 

 as equally injurious to productive spawning as 

 wet weather, because during its prevalence, the 

 waters of the shallows are frozen up. Salmon 

 cannot enter them, and as they are the only spots 

 appropriate for spawning, that operation is com- 

 pletely impeded, or else the fish are forced to 

 select spots unfit for the purposes of incubation. 

 When floods prevent salmon from depositing their 



