KILLING TWO BIKDS WITH ONE STONE. 



367 



CHAPTER IV. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



Near head of stream, in crystal spring, 



Or recess of the strand, 

 The salmon drops its precious eggs 



Amid the pure white sand ; 

 And here the infant fish disport 



Beyond the harm of tides, 

 Each swarming shoal resplendent 



With dotted silvery sides. 



^ ROM the want of data, the 

 nature and habits of 

 salmon were a sealed 

 book to naturalists 

 until, through the dis- 

 covery and practice 

 of fish-culture by ar- 

 tificial means, some 

 mysteries in physiol- 

 ogy were interpreted. 

 In the natural his- 

 tory of the salmon, 

 two questions occur 

 which have presented 

 a good deal of difficulty to pisciculturists and naturalists in 

 arriving at just conclusions. The first is, How long do the 

 young salmon inhabit the fresh-water streams in which they 

 were hatched before they migrate to the sea ? The second 

 is, How long do they inhabit the sea before they return as 

 grilse to the rivers in which they were bred ? 



A salmon has properly four stages of existence. The first 

 is when it is a parr, or a small bright fish with dark bars 

 across the sides, which are commonly called the parr marks. 



