198 BRITISH FRESH- WATER FISHES 



animals, feeble as we must judge their Intelligence to be, 

 careless as they appear in sowing their spawn broadcast to the 

 mercy of the seasons — yet salmon understand the business of 

 reproduction. It is true that the redd is sometimes made in 

 such thin water that it is laid dry in time of drought. Dr. 

 Day quotes Mr. Brander as having examined a redd in such 

 a condition. He found plenty of moisture under the gravel, 

 and *' having scraped a hole, he obtained a considerable 

 number of eggs, which he transferred to a pail of water, where 

 two-thirds hatched within periods varying from five minutes 

 to twenty-four hours. About a week later he returned to 

 the spot, and had another dig for salmon eggs, no rise having 

 occurred in the river during the interval. He collected 

 more, and put them in water, when they hatched as the 

 others had done." It seems, then, that when a redd is 

 laid dry on the surface, the hatching is retarded until such 

 time as the water overflows it again, when the fry come 

 out quickly. 



The effort of spawning is an extremely exhausting one, 

 and could scarcely be otherwise, seeing that the ovaries are 

 often one-fifth or even one-fourth the total weight 

 of the female. Yet it is not among the females 

 that the subsequent mortality is greatest. Both sexes, after 

 spawning, drop back into still, deep water to recruit. They 

 are exceedingly emaciated, and between this time and their 

 return to the sea are known as kelts, and are protected under 

 various statutes. Their skins retain for a short time only the 

 dark tints they acquired before the breeding season ; gradually, 

 but rather quickly, these fade away, and the scales regain the 

 silvery lustre of the sea fish. Kelts are very uncertain in the 

 rate of their progression to salt water. Some fish drop down 

 and disappear immediately after spawning in November and 

 December ; others linger long in the pools, and may be 

 encountered by anglers throughout the spring months. Their 

 lean forms, coupled with the pertinacity they sometimes show 



