NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



pose, the male and female join in forming a re- 

 ceptacle for their spawn in the sand or gravel, about 

 eighteen inches deep, which they afterwards cover 

 up ; and having performed this duty, they hasten 

 back to the sea, being now very poor and lean. 

 The spawn continues buried till the spring. 

 About the latter end of March the young are 

 excluded, and when they are four or five inches 

 long they are called smelts or smouls. About 

 the beginning of May they swarm in myriads ; 

 but the first flood sweeps them down into the 

 sea, scarcely leaving any behind. About the mid- 

 dle of June these begin to return to the rivers. 

 They have now grown to the length of twelve or 

 sixteen inches, and continue growing till the end 

 of July or beginning of August, when they get 

 the name of gilses, and are from six to nine 

 pounds weight. 5 ' 



What is meant by their beginning to quit the 

 sea, is, that the great body then enter the rivers in 

 order to go to their breeding haunts. Every one 

 knows that salmon enter the rivers early in the 

 year, though but rarely ; they are then called new 

 fish, having the lerncea salmonea, or sea-louse, at- 

 tached to them. Their number continues to in- 

 crease as the summer advances, which is the time 

 when they ought to be taken, for they are then 

 rich and good. They so continue until towards 

 the close of the year, when they assume a cop- 

 perish colour, and are evidently out of season j 

 the great bulk being then in a very pregnant 



