SALMON 229 



ate pools. Whether it take place in sea better is often deadly ; and nothing 



or river, mating is only for the time. lures so certainly as parr. Where 



Other and smaller fish gather from the great branches spread over the 



the pools where they have been lying, water the salmon are seen to rise 



it may be for months, waiting on the through the shaded pool and suck in 



coming of the autumn. They are the insect larvae dropping from the 



darker, from their longer stay in fresh leaves. A trout could do no more, 



water. There is one spawning time, Experts have tried to show that the 



though not one running time. When digestive apparatus is altogether out 



the darker fish left the sea will appear of gear ; but it manages to dispose 



anon. They, too, drop down to the of these morsels somehow. What- 



pools. ever may be the case with the newly 



Thin and unsightly, they lie during run, there is no doubt about the kelt. 

 the coming weeks. Like other weakly It eats what it can get. 

 creatures, they are exposed to disease. While yet the last spent fish is drop- 

 Weakest and most susceptible are ping down to the sea, the early run 

 those which have spent the summer in has begun. Bright and fresh are the 

 the river. Noxious spores reveal them- new-comers after a winter in the sea. 

 selves in patches on the skin. Rubbing They are not large, and probably 

 against stone or tree root turns the young. To many it must be a first 

 patch into a sore. Those who watched visit on such an errand. Though well 

 the lively spawning scene over the fed, they are lithe and shapely ; for 

 parapet may witness the sequel by the roe is young yet. The consum- 

 walking down a mile of river bank, mation is far distant ; months ahead. 

 How to counteract the saprolegnia is Spawning is in the autumn. Life has 

 hard to say, except in the purity of two phases : growth and reproduction, 

 the stream and the virility of the fish. In the migratory fishes, these are more 



Whether newly run salmon feed in sharply marked off than in most 



fresh water has long been a moot creatures. The salmon grows in the 



point. Nor is the rising to a brightly sea and breeds in the river. When 



coloured fly thought to be convincing, it has fed full, the sea has served its 



even with the explanation that they purpose. 



mistake it for a shrimp. Where the Some play awhile, between Cold- 

 fly fails a worm and the bigger the stream and Kelso, and go to sea again. 



