THE SALMON 31 



Captain Barrett Hamilton has made an interesting 

 attempt to account for the differences between the 

 sexes at this season. His view may be shortly 

 presented thus : The rapid transference of sub- 

 stance from the muscles to the genital glands is a 

 complicated process which leads to the formation of 

 more by-products than can be excreted, and these give 

 rise to the growths at the ends of the jaws, or 

 appear as pigments in the skin. The female organs 

 are the larger, and make use of more kinds of 

 material ; to take only one instance, the red and 

 yellow pigments of the flesh are in great part trans- 

 ferred to the ovaries, whereas in the males they are 

 nearly all deposited superficially. The male organs 

 are smaller, and their development entails more 

 waste; hence the long hooked jaws of the males. 



Salmon about to spawn select a place where the 

 stream flows fairly rapidly over a gravel bottom ; 

 here the female scoops out a shallow trough by 

 moving her tail from side to side, and sinking into it 

 deposits some eggs, which are fertilized by the male 

 fish who is waiting near ; she then covers the eggs 

 over with gravel by similar strokes of her tail, 

 burying them at a depth of about a foot ; the whole 

 process is repeated at intervals of a few minutes, 

 the fish gradually moving up stream, so that when 

 all the eggs are shed, which usually takes from a 

 week to a fortnight, the spawning-bed or ' redd ' 

 of one pair of fish may be several feet long. At 

 this time the old male Salmon are sometimes very 

 fierce, driving away any others who may approach 

 them, and even engaging in desperate combats. 



The spent fish are termed " kelts " or "slats/' 

 and are easily recognized by their large heads and 



