380 FISHING IN AMEEICAN WATERS. 



posit 250,000 ova. Granting that a considerable portion of 

 these are hatched, is it ever found that a fiftieth or a hun- 

 dredth part of the whole arrive at maturity ? Far from this 

 being the case, the number of trout will continue almost the 

 same for years, without any perceptible increase. The rea- 

 son is plain. So soon as the fry are hatched, they are exposed 

 to the attacks of the parent trout. Within the limits of the 

 reservoir there is not the remotest chance of their ultimate 

 escape. It is true, if the fingerlings knew enough, they might 

 ascend the tributaries of the preserve to shoals where the 

 parent trout could not follow ; but they do not know, and 

 man, being placed over the kingdoms of inferior animals, 

 should preserve them for his own good. Salmon which 

 spawn in the natural waters generally go to the heads of 

 the streams during the fall floods and deposit their spawn ; 

 when the waters subside, the ova is sometimes destroyed by 

 being left on dry land. Other fish deposit their spawn and 

 cover it on prior beds of spawn. Others spawn in the cur- 

 rent of the stream, and a freshet carries it down the current 

 as food for all the inhabitants below. In other cases the fe- 

 male salmon makes her spawning-bed, and deposits and cov- 

 ers up the ova, while the male fish is down at the foot of the 

 pool guarding it from the incursions of an army of water- 

 guerrillas. Sometimes the place in the stream selected for 

 the spawning-bed is very good while preparing the trenches 

 for the spawn, but by the time the spawn is deposited the 

 stream has become a torrent, and washes away the ova ; and 

 yet just like a headstrong specimen of humanity if the fe- 

 male makes up her mind that she will spawn at a place, the 

 rapidity of the flood of water never daunts her, though the 

 swiftness of the current prevents the roe from ever touching 

 bottom. Long Island is formed of a net-work tracery of trout- 

 streams, and yet there are but ten establishments for the arti- 

 ficial propagation of trout. Some proprietors and the poach- 

 ers of the island capture trout in winter to stock ponds which 

 are kept for the commercial advantages of letting them to be 



