216 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK 



action of the fish and water breaking down some of the gravel 

 bank above and over the nest. Thus is formed a complete 

 spawning bed — not at once, not by a single effort, but piece- 

 meal, and at several intervals of greater or less duration, 

 according to the age and size of the fish, and quantity of ova 

 and milt to be deposited and emitted. A female Salmon in 

 its third year has a larger quantity of ova to deposit than a 

 female Grilse, or young Salmon in its second year ; and it 

 may be taken for granted, that the older and larger either 

 fish — male or female — is, the greater quantity of ova to be 

 deposited, and of milt to be emitted. In consequence, the 

 time occupied in deposition chiefly depends upon the size and 

 fecundity of the female fish. The average time is from five 

 to ten days. It would be more correct to say the mean time 

 lies betwixt. 



"When the spawning operations — I am describing those 

 of a single pair of Salmon — are terminated, the female fish, 

 with instinctive view to repose and convalescence, falls back 

 into some pool below the spawning-bed just completed, and 

 sown with Salmon-seed. The male frequently follows her 

 example, sometimes from two motives : 1st, to consort with 

 another female, if he have any milt remaining ; 2d, if he have 

 not, for the purpose of recovering from the debilitating effects 

 of spawning. A male Salmon may impregnate the ova of one 

 or more Salmon. A mature male Salmon has milt enough 

 to impregnate the ova of several Grilse, or young Salmon; 

 and he will continue the operation of impregnation as long as 

 'the seminal fluid lasts. If, in the first instance, a female 

 choose a mate unable to fecundate all her ova, she will, when 

 his milt is exhausted, go in search of another, and will be a 

 bigamist or polygamist, as long as nature, or (as phrenologists 

 would say) philo-progenitiveness, compels her to be so. The 

 length of a spawning-bed depends upon the quantity of spawn 



