62 . LIFE AND HISTORY OF A SALMON. 



may be reckoned from the Moselle to the arctic circle. 

 The spawning season varies somewhat throughout this 

 extensive region, but in the salmon rivers of this coun- 

 try the variation is inconsiderable. It is believed that 

 spawning occurs, in a few instances, in almost every 

 month of the year ; but the time for this interesting 

 operation is chiefly in the months of November and 

 December. Generally speaking, however, the fish are 

 so far advanced in pregnancy as to be unfit for human 

 food by the end of September. In the months above 

 mentioned the salmon are in pairs, and having selected 

 a stream with a gravelly bottom, the operation of 

 spawning may be witnessed during the four, five, to 

 ten days required for its completion owing to the ova 

 not being ready for extrusion all at the same time, or 

 in consequence of the fish being scared and interrupted 

 in their labours. Mr Shaw and others have maintained 

 that the male takes no part in the toil of forming the 

 spawning-bed. " Ephemera" and Mr Young, in their 

 conjunct and very valuable work, * The Book of the Sal- 

 mon,' denounce all such as " feather-bed naturalists." 

 Having a wholesome dread of such an imputation, 

 especially from one like " Ephemera," the dictator to 

 the sporting world who swear by 'Bell's Life in London,' 

 we, with all humility, receive the account given by him 

 arid Mr Young of the manner in which salmon gratify 

 their philoprogenitiveness : " A salmon-bed is con- 

 structed thus : the fish having paired, chosen their 

 ground for bed-making, and being ready to lay in, they 

 drop down the stream, a little, and then, returning with 

 velocity towards the spot selected, they dart their 

 heads into the gravel, burrowing with their snouts into 

 it. This burrowing action, assisted by the power of 

 the fins, is performed with great force, and, the water's 

 current aiding, the upper part or roof of the excavation 

 is removed. The burrowing process is continued until 

 a first nest is dug sufficiently capacious for a first de- 

 position of ova. Then the female enters this first hollowed 



