176 AMEBICAN GAME. 



weeks about the point where the tide turns, and salt and 

 fresh water alternates, as if to acclimate themselves to 

 the -change of temperature, proceed up to the very head- 

 waters of the streams they frequent, and there, in the 

 gravelly bottoms of the shallow rivulets, deposit their 

 eggs, to be matured and ripened by the effects of the air 

 and sunshine. Thence they descend to the sea again, to 

 recover health and vigor for the ensuing season, but on 

 their descent they would not be recognized for the same 

 fish which ascended in the previous autumn, as they are 

 now lean, flat-sided, big-headed owing to the diminu- 

 tion of the body dingy-colored, and utterly unfit for 

 food. A male salmon, which from his length, should 

 have weighed 11 Ibs., in condition, being killed in this 

 state, was found to weigh 4r| Ibs. Yet in this miserable 

 and useless state, as well as on the very spawning beds, 

 when in the actual performance of their natural and 

 paternal duties, this noble fish is ruthlessly and wantonly 

 massacred to the gradual annihilation of the species, 

 and to the extinction not only of an admirable and 

 athletic sport, but of a considerable source of national 

 wealth, and a valuable branch of domestic and foreign 

 trade. 



Now it is by no means necessary, either to abstain 

 from taking salmon, in almost unlimited quantities at 

 the proper season, that is to say, while they are running 

 up the rivers in summer and early autumn, provided 

 only that the whole channel is not obstructed by stake- 



