SPAWNING AND FOOD. SALMON. 7 



fish, both migratory and non-migratory, are generally 

 determined by one of two causes ; first, by the 

 search after suitable places for the deposit of their 

 eggs, a certain temperature of water being necessary 

 to vivify them ; and secondly by the quest of food. 

 The movements of all animals which feed on living 

 creatures are greatly influenced by the habits of the 

 creatures preyed upon, and fish offer no exception to 

 this rule. We shall now proceed to lay before our 

 reader a comprehensive view of what has taken us 

 well nigh 50 years of patient application to acquire, 

 namely, the characteristic habits and movements of 

 andamorous and non-migratory fish, a knowledge of 

 which it is incumbent upon every fisherman to 

 possess.* 



THE SALMON (Salmo Salar^} As is well known, 

 these fish, with other orders of the same family, else- 

 where described, pass a portion of each year in salt 

 water, descending to the sea after they have deposited 

 their spawn on the gravelly beds of the higher por- 

 tions of rivers. The time of migration varies in 

 different waters ; thus we hear of early and late 

 rivers. The spawning season ranges from March to 

 November. The majority of mature fish ascend and 

 descend at fixed periods, the time chosen generally 

 being during a flood. The early spring floods bring 

 the first and main instalments to the sources of the 



* The compilers of this publication deeply regret their inability, from 

 the limit of space at their disposal in this first edition, to publish more 

 than one-half of the information given by the author upon the habits 

 of fish, a life history of most of which is given in the original 

 manuscript. 



