THE SALMON FAMILY. 



273 



fly, the Water-shrimp,, and a host of kindred insects, which 

 work their way in amongst the gravel and destroy, perhaps 

 less ostentatiously, but not less certainly. 



If the egg escapes these perils, and having performed its 

 protective mission releases its charge in due course, fresh 

 dangers await the delicate and immature nursling : again, 

 the trout and the wild-duck, and even the parent salmon 

 themselves, hunt it out in its sheltering creeks and cre- 

 vices ; and hundreds of fry are daily sacrificed on a single 

 spawning-bed by this means * : last of all comes man, 

 who wantonly, either for amusement or for the sake of a 

 single dish, fills his basket with produce which, if allowed 

 to pass to the sea, would have returned in a few weeks 

 worth a pocketful of gold. With these various enemies 

 besetting every period of their existence, it ceases to be a 

 matter of surprise that the percentage of fry attaining the 

 Grilse stage should be as trifling as it is ; the only wonder 

 is that it is not still smaller. 



Many causes of destruction, however, menace the ova 

 of the Salmon besides those enumerated : a winter flood 

 perhaps sweeps down the river, and buries a whole brood 

 under a foot of sand-drift; not only the duck and the 

 grebe, but all sorts of water-fowl and amphibia perform 

 their share of the work of depredation ; and though we 

 know but little of the habits of the Smolts when once in 



* A yellow Trout is now preserved in the Museum of the Literary 

 and Antiquarian Society weighing 1| lb., from the stomach of which 

 ten full-grown Parrs and Smolts were taken. 



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