Common Atlantic Salmon 



and the same story, with names and dates changed, serves 

 equally well for other rivers. 



In 1798 a corporation, known as the "Upper Locks and 

 Canal Company," built a dam 16 feet high at Millers River, 100 

 miles from the mouth of the Connecticut. For 2 or 3 years 

 fish were seen in great abundance below the dam, and for per- 

 haps 10 years they continued to appear, vainly striving to reach 

 their spawning grounds; but soon the work of extermination was 

 complete. When, in 1872, a solitary salmon made its appearance, 

 the Saybrook fishermen did not know what it was. 



At least half of the sahnon's life is spent in the ocean. " He 

 is ever bred in fresh rivers," said Isaac Walton, "and never grows 

 big but in the sea." " He has, like some persons of honour 

 and riches which have both their winter and summer houses, 

 this fresh water for summer and the salt water for winter to 

 spend his life in." Most of his tribe, however, are peculiarly 

 fresh-water fishes, though several share his sea-dwelling habits, and 

 others, like the brook trout, descend into salt water when not 

 prevented by temperature barriers. All of the family run into 

 very shoal water, and usually to the source of streams, for 

 spawning purposes, "i am inclined to the view," writes Dr. 

 Goode, "that the natural habitat of the salmon is in the fresh 

 waters, the more so since there are so many instances — such as 

 that of the Stormontfield Ponds in England — where it has been 

 confined for years in lakes without apparent detriment." That 

 the Chinook salmon has been kept for years in fresh water ponds 

 in France is another strong evidence of the correctness of this 

 view. The Sebago salmon of the New England lakes, and the 

 ouananiche of Canada never visit salt water, finding ample food 

 and exercise in the fresh waters which they inhabit. 



Salmon while in salt or brackish water feed on small 

 shrimps, young crabs, and other crustaceans and their eggs. 

 When in the rivers they are supposed to eat but little, though 

 they will make voracious rushes at the angler's fly. 



Dr. W. C. Kendall of the U. S. Fish Commission has made 

 a special study of the Atlantic Salmon and the Sebago salmon, 

 and furnishes us the following regarding their habits: 



The assumption that salmon do not feed after entering fresh 

 water is founded upon the fact that seldom is anything found in 

 their stomachs when caught in traps or by hooks. In traps and 



i6s 



