70 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 
that they do not make a habit of feeding, though they 
may occasionally seize food, is overwhelming. Thousands 
of fish have been examined in fresh water, and have 
been found to contain no food in the stomach, nor any 
evidence of digested food in the alimentary tract ; 
whereas in the sea, salmon have been frequently taken 
containing six and seven herrings inside them. 
Further, after a fish has been in fresh water for some 
time, the lining of the stomach is in a crinkled, contracted 
state, conclusively showing that food has not been taken 
for some considerable time. 
I attribute the non-feeding of salmon in fresh water 
to the fact that on their return from the sea they are 
ill at ease. This may be partly because they have come 
up to spawn and partly because the environments in a 
river do not suit them after their long sojourn in the 
sea. When a fish is uncomfortable, or does not feel at 
home in his surroundings, he ceases to feed, and hunger 
in itself will never drive a fish to feed so long as this 
feeling of strangeness remains upon him. 
I make this statement after observations upon various 
wild fish turned into the pond as opposed to those 
received from hatcheries. As one example of these 
observations, I will take the case of a half-pound brown 
trout caught on a fly and turned into the pond. This 
fish hid up and sulked for four days in a patch of weeds 
within a few feet of where the other trout in the pond 
were regularly fed. On the fifth and sixth day he 
emerged from hiding, and swam about with the other 
