128 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



course than the late fish. With respect to the spawn- 

 ing operations, it appears at first strange that some 

 fish should seek to make the fresh water their habita- 

 tion for the whole of the summer, while other fish 

 remain in the estuaries and the sea until within a few 

 weeks of spawning, and come out of the sea quite ready 

 to spawn. It presents itself to my mind as one of the 

 wonderful arrangements of nature that it is for the 

 purpose of causing the fish to distribute themselves 

 through the whole of the waters. That is their tendency, 

 for we have the fish in summer from the spring going up 

 the rivers, and killing themselves to get over obstacles ; 

 actually jumping at weirs and locks and all sorts of 

 things, while a number of fish remain quiet in the sea, and 

 do not come into the fresh water at all till they are just 

 ready to spawn. We find also that the earliest spawning 

 is almost at the top of the water. I think it is as clear 

 as possible that the object of the law that governs them 

 is, to cause the fish to distribute themselves throughout 

 the whole length and breadth of the water. Some people 

 have thought it extraordinary that there should be these 

 December and January fish we have it before our eyes. 

 I have often taken them myself in the lakes in the fol- 

 lowing summer in all stages of ova in progress of 

 development. We have them under our eyes in rivers. 

 The fish come up in February and March, and we know 

 that they do not spawn till November and December, 

 following, after all, very much the same time before 

 spawning as the December fish that spawn in October. 

 It is about the same time. 



2556 LORD POLWARTH: You think that the fish 

 enter the river in December and remain in the river till 

 October, and then spawn? Yes, no doubt of it. They 

 are the most valuable spawners. 



