288 How to obtain it. 
Whilst we find, then, that in one part of the world salmon 
have been increasing, we find that in another part they have de- 
creased to a considerable extent. The cause of the decrease is, 
I think, too obvious to need explanation. Increased means of 
capture and number of captors, along with many more indirect 
causes, have brought about the result. The destruction has been 
greater than the supply, and the consequence is inevitable. The 
remedy is also plain—increase the supply by caring for the 
helpless salmon during its infancy. 
A great deal has been said from time to time about salmon 
not feeding in our rivers. That they feed when in the rivers is 
beyond any doubt, and there are many instances recorded in 
which food has been found in their stomachs. On the other 
hand, there is no doubt that they often fast for long seasons or 
during those times take but very little food. They are detained 
in the fresh water longer than they used to be, owing to the low 
state of our rivers during lengthened periods, due to our drainage 
systems. That this detention in the fresh water is injurious to 
the fish is beyond any doubt, and it is difficult to estimate the 
influence which it may have in the course of a few generations. 
Salmon take hardly any food at spawning time or during very 
cold weather, and when they are feeling rather upset, or “out of 
sorts,” which I believe is often more or less the case when in 
some of our fresh waters. An idea seems to exist in many minds 
that the huge bodies of the salmon are somehow developed by a 
very indefinite something, which the fish manages somehow or 
other to obtain, by a process which they call “suction.” What 
this ‘‘suction” consists of I find they usually do not know. But, 
in any case, it seems to point to something very much resembling 
microscopic supplies. 
We know that the food of salmon in the sea consists largely 
of herrings, sand eels, crustaceans, etc. The exceptional and 
temporary absence of herrings from a portion of our coast has 
been accompanied by a corresponding scarcity of salmon. The 
salmon, indeed, feeds voraciously in the sea, and whilst there 
lives on the very best of food. 
During the sojourn in the salt water it has a great deal to do, 
for it has to recover from the sorry plight in which it often finds 
