THE SALMON FAMILY. 263 



digging, depositing, and covering ova until the whole 

 are laid, a process usually occupying a period estimated 

 by different authorities at from 3 or 4* to from 10 to 

 12 daysf. 



Although, as I have stated, the male takes no share in 

 the drudgery of the menage, his duties are of by no means 

 a light nature ; the conflicts with other males, if brief, are 

 incessant ; and it sometimes happens, when a rival is either 

 very fond or very fierce, that the domestic supremacy 

 is only to be maintained at the cost of a prolonged and 

 desperate fight. A good instance of this is described by 

 Mr. Shaw : 



" On the 10th of January, 1836, I observed a female 

 Salmon of considerable size (about 16 Ibs.), and two males, 

 of at least 25 Ibs., engaged in depositing their spawn. The 

 spot which they had selected for that purpose was a little 

 apart from some other Salmon which were occupied in the 

 same manner, and rather nearer the side, although still in 

 pretty deep water. The two males kept up a perpetual 

 contest during the whole of the day for possession of the 

 lists, and in the course of their struggles frequently drove 

 each other almost ashore, and were repeatedly on the sur- 

 face, displaying their back fins, and lashing the water with 

 their tails/' 



Perhaps, however, the most graphic account of a com- 



* Paper by Mr. John Shaw in the Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh. 



t Ellis, On the Natural History of the Salmon. 



