34 THE VALE OF GALA. 



that these are the places where salmon spawn, 

 where the run is a gentle ripple, but not deep, 

 with fine gravel ; and where a shade of any bush 

 or tree overhangs ; there, most likely, you will see 

 them busy, you will observe the gravel as if 

 newly turned up. In fact, the male fish is pro- 

 vided by nature, at this season, with a bony 

 substance or kip, which grows on his lower 

 jaw, to enable him to make the hole in the 

 gravel for the female to deposit her spawn in ; 

 and further in the upper jaw, it also has a hole, 

 into which, when its mouth is closed, it exactly 

 fits this bony substance falls off, they say, with 

 the season, as they are seldom found with it when 

 quite clean or new from the sea. I quite believe, 

 from long observation and study of their habits, 

 that, although generally seen in pairs on the 

 redds, that the spawn or ova is impregnated by 

 coition, having observed them from a tree, make 

 a great plunge toward each other in the stream, 

 and the male fish strike her ; and it may be that 

 all her ova may be impregnated at one time ; and 

 I have often seen the female fish spawning, and 

 no male fish near her. 1 No doubt, ova can be 



1 I have been told that Greenland fishers have observed 

 whales sport thus ; but this is very like a whale. 



