THE SALMON. 175 
The salmon, properly speaking, is neither a salt-water 
nor a fresh-water fish ; a change from one to the other, 
at different seasons of the year, being in his natural 
state necessary to his existence, and in any state to his 
greatest perfection. The salt water and the food which 
they therein obtain, the spawn, namely, and eggs of 
crabs, and other crustaceous fishes, are necessary to him 
for the recruiting and reinvigorating his system after the 
exhaustion consequent on spawning; and to these he is 
supposed to owe his great and rapid growth, the deep 
ruddy color, and the exquisite flavor of his flesh. 
The fresh water of clear, cold spring-fed rivers is 
necessary to him for the reproduction of his species, as 
it is now a proved and recognized fact, that the spawn, 
or eggs, of the salmon cannot be hatched or brought to 
lite except in the highly aérated waters of clear, quick- 
running, shallow, fresh streams. 
If the upper parts of all the rivers in the world could 
be closed against the salmon, as in most of our own 
rivers they are by dams and weirs, the salmon would 
cease to exist at all, as they have ceased to exist.in those 
rivers whence they are now excluded, but wherein they 
once abounded, us the Delaware, the Hudson, and the 
Connecticut, and thousands of others, even to the outlets 
of the small lakes of central New York, where they 
were once common. ; 
In July the salmon begin freely to enter the estuaries 
of the breeding rivers, and after remaining for some 
