ON THE TRAIL OF THE GRIZZLY 261 



where I lay the pair of salmon could be seen hour after 

 hour. The male, in an apparently vigorous condition, 

 was lying about nine feet lower down in the stream than 

 the female. There were two white pebbles close to- 

 gether, and between these the male was located. The 

 female was in a dilapidated and sorry-looking condi- 

 tion. Her coat was of a pale red color, while his was 

 a royal scarlet. Her tail and dorsal fin were nearly 

 chewed off, and she appeared so weak and emaciated 

 as to be hardly able to wriggle her tail. Four times 

 one day and five times the next, while I was watching 

 them, the male shot up the stream to where she was 

 laboring and jabbed at her with his jaw and bit her tail 

 with his sharp teeth. 



These attacks, of course, stirred her up to renewed 

 energy for a few minutes, and he would then drop 

 down to his old position. The current of the brook 

 seemed to be unsteady, and many times the male 

 would shoot out to the right a few feet and then re- 

 turn. I presume that the current at these times had 

 carried the eggs out of their general course, and as it 

 was his mission to fertilize them, he would thus head 

 them off. 



The whole of the first day passed in this manner, 

 with nothing to divert the attention from watching the 

 bear trail, excepting these two salmon and a red 

 squirrel, who spent his time in gathering pine-cones 

 and carrying them away in his mouth. A tiny bird, 



