DISTRIBUTION. 



189 



course, and the alevins, after absorbing the yolk 

 sac, become fry. The fry remain together in 

 the thinnest water of the shallows until they 

 have grown to about the size of small minnows, 

 and then they disperse. 



The bulk of the small trout in a river are 

 usually found in shallow water, and in the early 

 spring, after spawning, many of the parent fish 

 take up their positions behind large stones, 

 weed beds, or in other favourable places in 

 slack water on the shallows, until they get in 

 condition. In the emaciated state in which 

 both females and males are left by the ex- 

 hausting process of spawning they require a 

 considerable amount of food to restore them to 

 strength and vigour. A large proportion of 

 this feeding up is unfortunately carried out at 

 the expense of their weaker progeny, and the 

 less the natural food supply on a shallow the 

 greater is the number of victims required to 

 satisfy the appetites of the adult fish. That so 

 small a proportion of the naturally-bred trout in 

 a river arrive at maturity is no doubt to an 

 alarming extent due to their being devoured 

 wholesale by these larger fish. The same 

 experience is so universal in salmon rivers, that 

 one of the reasons urged for the destruction of 

 kelts is, that as each kelt destroyed means 

 saving the lives of many hundreds, of parr and 



Movements oi 

 trout imme- 

 diately after 

 spawning. 



