indeed in many others — they catch only 

 _ male grilse ; but the reason is probably a very 



J simple one. The females pass the grilse state 

 P^-f]&f K *£ in the ocean, growing steadily until the fol- 

 lowing spring, when males and females enter 

 the river together as fully developed salmon 

 of eight or ten pounds' weight. 



All winter long our young grilse, famished 

 by his long fasting, gorged himself and grew 

 fat and doubled his weight. When the May 

 moon drew near her full the migratory fever 

 again ran along the rocky ridge under the 

 ocean ; for even down there, in the cold green 

 under-world, Nature comes with the same 

 message that sets the buds to swelling and 

 the birds to singing. The largest salmon felt 

 it first and drifted away in a dense shoal, fol- 

 lowing up the delicate flavor of their own river 

 as a dog follows an air scent, or else remem- 

 bering, as a mule does, every turn and wind- 

 ing of the trail that has once been followed. 

 A month later Kopseep, with hundreds of 

 his fellows, moved leisurely away after them. 



He was a salmon now, and had to take 

 his chances with the seals that watched on 



