CH. IV. SPAWNING-BEDS OF SALMON, 55 



The process of preparing the spawning-beds 

 is curious. The two fish come up together to a 

 convenient place, shallow and gravelly. Here they 

 commence digging a trench across the stream, 

 sometimes making it several inches deep. In this 

 the female deposits her eggs, or ova ; and she having 

 left the bed, the male takes her place, and deposits 

 his spawn on the ova of the female. The difference 

 may be perhaps easily exemplified by the soft and 

 hard roe of a herring ; the former being that of the 

 male, and without this the hard roe or ova of the 

 female fish would be barren. When the male has 

 performed his share of the work, they both make a 

 fi-esh trench immediately above the former one, thus 

 covering up the spawn in the first trench with the 

 gravel taken out of the second : the same process 

 is repeated till the whole of their spawn is de- 

 posited, when the fish gradually work their way 

 down to the salt water to recruit their lost strength 

 and energy. 



The spawn is thus left to be hatched in due time, 

 but is sometimes destroyed by floods, which bury it 

 too deep, or sweep it entirely away ; at other times 

 it is destroyed by want of water, a dry season reduc- 

 ing the river to so small a size as to leave the beds 

 exposed to the air. The time required to hatch 

 the eggs depends much on the state of the weather ; 



