234 PROPAGATION OF FISH. 



with her ventral fins and tail for that purpose. It remains 

 fast for the space of thirty minutes or so, and then be- 

 comes loose and is swept away by the current, a dainty 

 morsel for whatever bird or fish or insect that comes 

 across it. It is also to be observed that the eggs are 

 heavy and sink to the bottom like shot ; a marked pecu- 

 liarity of the spawn of the salmonidae, and distinguish- 

 ing them from those of other varieties. 



Several different deposits of spawn are made and cov- 

 ered up in this way, till often quite a mound of fish eggs 

 and gravel is erected. Such mounds built by the famous 

 trout of Rangeley and her sister lakes are large enough 

 to fill a two-bushel basket. The operation of emitting 

 the eggs is not all done at one time or on one day, it oc- 

 cupies several days. As soon as the nest is completed, 

 and the father and mother are exhausted of spawn and 

 milt, they drop back worn out and weakly to the deeper 

 water or the ocean to recuperate. The eggs are left to 

 themselves unprotected, except for their gravelly covering. 



The enemies of fish life are numerous. The most to 

 be dreaded are eels, which are difficult to exclude from 

 the troughs, and devour eggs and young with equal vo- 

 racity. Seven young trout have been taken from the stom- 

 ach of an eel six inches long and no thicker than a fine 

 knitting needle ; they grow as they eat, hiding most cun- 

 ningly in the sand or gravel from human eye, and making 

 their way through narrow passages and small holes that a 

 person would not suspect them of being able to enter. 

 One half-grown eel will destroy an unlimited number of 

 fry or eggs. Ducks are equally destructive, thrusting 

 their long bills down into the nests of spawn, or seizing 

 and swallowing the young ; frogs, mice, rats, fish, many 



