308 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



fourteen inches deep. Concealed in a .thicket at the root of some 

 willows on the bank, I have at this place, on more than twenty 

 occasions, witnessed for hours the interesting manoeuvres of the 

 fish. 



With admirable instinct these creatures never select a stream 

 that is likely to dry up. It is essential, I believe, that the bed 

 or nest of the ova should be at the bottom of running water of 

 moderate depth, not in too strong a current, which, during 

 floods, would be likely to carry off and destroy the deposite ; 

 nor in a stagnant part of the river, where a mud sediment and 

 the want of water sufficiently aerated might choke the embryo 

 brood. 



When the place is chosen, both fish set to work to scoop out a 

 proper hollow for the spawn. On every occasion I observed that 

 the female commenced the operation, as she had in all probability 

 selected the site of the bed. She is easily distinguished from the 

 male by her large and matronly size, as he is conspicuous by the 

 curious hooked appendage projecting upwards from the centre of 

 the lower jaw. The female then, in curious analogy with the 

 hen-bird, begins to make her nest, by digging into the gravel 

 with her belly and tail, sometimes poking a refractory pebble out 

 of the way with her nose. The male fish all the time keeps watch 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of his wife ; and although nature 

 has denied him the power of serenading her with a song, after 

 the fashion of the cock-bird, our gallant salmon does not the less 

 tenderly guard the privacy of his spouse, but swims round her 

 in a protecting circle, to prevent interlopers from disturbing her 

 in her interesting employment. When the lady-fish has worked 

 long enough, which may be from a quarter to half an hour, she 

 rests for a little, and the attentive husband takes her place im- 

 mediately and commences digging. She then circles round and 

 watches over him in her turn. Indeed, there is much moral in- 

 terest excited by these proceedings ; and I may venture to add, 



