The Natural History of the Salmon. 8 1 



the plumage of the male pheasant, bird of Paradise, 

 mallard, etc. 



The beak of the male salmon — which Walton says 

 the fish casts off when he gets to the sea, " as the 

 eagle is said to cast his bill " — is of very curious 

 growth : it is a cartilaginous protuberance from 

 the lower jaw, and if carefully observed, a ring 

 is seen surrounding its base, which is intended 

 when the beak has done its work to facilitate the 

 process of shedding, just in the same manner as 

 the deer sheds its horns. This beak is entirely 

 connected with the generative process, and is in- 

 tended, not for the purpose, as Walton and many 

 other writers supposed, for digging a hole in the 

 gravel for the female to deposit her ova, but for 

 the purpose of defence and attack on other males 

 intent on taking the female, just as the stag uses 

 his horns against other stags. Salmon do not pair, 

 but the strongest, not necessarily the biggest, fight 

 and retain the female until the process of vivifying 

 ' the ova is accomplished, and then they seek other 

 females and renew their battles, and in this way 

 many a male salmon is killed.^ This beak is of 



^ Ramsbottom of Clitheroe believes the gib to be for the 

 assistance of the female fish during parturition, — the forefinger 

 of the accoucheur to press upon the abdomen and about the 

 vent to facilitate the expulsion of the ova, much as the fisher- 

 man uses his thumb to press out the foecal residue before 

 putting a fish into the basket. 



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