140 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
eggs are passed by the men, who remove only those which are 
sonnd. The gull, then returning to the field of its exploits, 
procures a plentiful supply of its favorite food.” 
§ 107. Fishes —The fishes of the coast and rivers of Califor- 
nin are all different from those of the Atlantic side of the conti- 
nent, with the exception, perhaps, of one species of the halibut. 
The cod and shad, two of the most important fishes of the sea 
of the Eastern shore, and the lobster among crustaceans, are 
here wanting, as also the cat-fish kind in the rivers. Otherwise 
our waters are probably as rich in game for the fisherman as 
those of any country. 
$108. Salmon.—The most important fish of California is the 
quinnat salon (Salmo quinnat), a species found from Point 
Conception to the Columbia River. Its color above is oliva- 
ceous brown, changing to salmon-color beneath. The largest 
one ever caught weighed sixty-two pounds; the common size 
is from ten to thirty pounds. The salmon are born in the rivers, 
but go down to the sea, where they spend part of every year. 
They commence to enter the bay of San Francisco in Novem- 
ber, and continue to come in for three or four months. They 
ascend the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and some of 
their smaller tributaries, deposit their spawn, and in June go 
out to seaagain. They come in lean and go out lean, but in the 
late winter and early spring they are fat. There are two com- 
mon popular errors, that the salmon do not eat after leaving 
the sea, and that they never get back alive. The former error 
is owing to the fact that no large articles of food are found in 
its stomach, and the latter to the fact that when going out all 
are lean, and that many are found dead along the banks of 
salmon-streams. But the salmon find their chief food in mi- 
nute animalcule, and not in fish, for catching which they seem 
to be so well fitted, with their large mouths and sharp teeth. 
It is well known that the salmon bite like trout, and furnish 
excellent sport in clear water to the skilful fisherman with the 
fly. They dislike the mud with which the streams emptying 
into San Francisco Bay are filled by the miners, and therefore 
