FISHES AND FISHING, 39 



should an insurmountable obstacle present itself to 

 their passage upwards, in the main stream, or any- 

 thing occur to alarm them, they will pass up any 

 tributary stream, from whence fresh water flows ; 

 and it is well known will make repeated and astonish, 

 ing leaps, to arrive at a fit place to deposit their 

 spawn : the male is equally prompted by instinct to 

 make the same exertions. This accounts for the 

 salmon leaping into the mill, and the one taken in 

 the fresh water which ran in the road-way, mentioned 

 in the former pages : and many a noble salmon b^ing 

 dashed to pieces in the attempt to pass the wheels of 

 the mill, in order to arrive at the fresh water, as I 

 have before stated. 



r^ These three gentlemen, the two first from an ex- 

 perience of forty years each, coincided in positively 

 stating to the committee, that one male salmon asso- 

 ciates himself with one female fish ; that they play 

 together for a short time, either very early in the 

 morning, or late in the evening, round their intended 

 spawning ground, which they have selected as fit for 

 the purpose, and then together] make a furrow, by 

 working up the gravel with their noses, against the 

 stream. When that furrow is completed, they throw 

 themselves on their sides, and, rubbing against each 

 other, are mutually stimulated to shed the eggs and the 

 milt simultaneously, into the hollow they have made, 



