THE LIFE OF THE SALMON 239 



if caught immediately after spawning, exhibit any great 

 amount of discoloration, etc., but they might be, and 

 very often are treated, as kelts which have recovered their 

 clean appearance after having deteriorated prior to 

 spawning. In other words, the so-called bright and clean 

 kelts which are captured in February and March may never 

 have been in any other condition since leaving the sea, and 

 cannot be regarded as " well-mended kelts/' 



A great deal of literature has been devoted to the problem 

 affecting the clean salmon's pursuit of all moving objects 

 after it has left the salt water, and various explanations have 

 been advanced to account for its apparent appetite in fresh 

 water prior to spawning. The changes which occur in the 

 stomach and alimentary canal of a fresh-run salmon while 

 in fresh water preclude its taking food, and there have been 

 few authentic cases of a clean fish ever having been dis- 

 covered in fresh water with food in its stomach. 



REJECTION OF FOOD WHEN CAPTURED 



A salmon when in fresh water appears to pursue and take 

 in its mouth any moving or novel object which it sees, 

 unless the object be too big, or the salmon be frightened 

 or warned by some former unhappy experience. What 

 is the reason for this action ? Some, ignoring the physical 

 changes in the alimentary regions, declare that the salmon 

 takes the food into the stomach, but that directly it is 

 hooked, or finds itself in a net, it discharges the entire con- 

 tents of the stomach. 



Mr. H. Cholmondeley-Pennell advanced the theory of 

 the rejection of all food as a possible solution of the empty 

 condition of the salmon's stomach when caught in fresh 

 water, and instances a case where 716 salmon caught 

 in a net in salt water were seen to discharge quantities 

 of small eels as the net approached the shore. This, 



