A Sportsman 345 



and moderately avoid them on that account. They 

 often pass by the boat not far from the surface, and 

 occasionally follow up a hooked salmon near the boat 

 as trout and bass will, though not frequently, and I 

 have occasionally observed four or five salmon fol- 

 lowing up my shred of a bait when reeling in to replen- 

 ish. When fifteen or twenty feet from the boat 

 they would turn of? in disappointment, which I would 

 endeavor to relieve as much as possible by speedily 

 throwing out a fresh bait. A rather exciting moment 

 for a fisherman. 



I have examined the stomachs of a great many 

 of these salmon, not only of my own catch, but at the 

 salting works at the Monterey pier, California, and 

 have very seldom found any empty. The predomi- 

 nating food I have found more of squid than any- 

 thing else; next anchovies and sardines. These ap- 

 pear to be the principal food at the bay when the 

 waters are full of them. I found also varieties of 

 small fishes, smelts, cods, blue-fish, flounders and 

 others. Occasionally I have found the stomachs 

 packed with shrimps, which swimming in clouds 

 could easily be scooped in. 



The stomach of the salmon does not have the dis- 

 tention apparent with other members of the Sal- 

 monidce family, not exhibiting the swollen aspect 

 seen often in trout, which, gorging to the limit, will 

 still take the minnow when only a portion of it can 

 enter the stomach, and with the tail part protruding 

 from the throat will often as eagerly strike at the 

 fly as if half famished. 



It is clear that the salmon at home in the salt water 

 is an indiscriminate feeder upon any kind of small 



