THE SALMON FAMILY. 55 
gravel. They then float down the stream tail fore- 
most. As already stated, a great majority of them 
die. In the head-waters of the large streams, un- 
questionably, all die; in the small streams, and 
near the sea, an unknown percentage probably sur- 
vive. The young hatch in about sixty days, and 
most of them return to the ocean during the high 
water of the spring. 
The salmon of all kinds in the spring are silvery, 
spotted or not according to the species, and with 
the mouth about equally symmetrical in both 
sexes. As the spawning season approaches, the 
female loses her silvery color, becomes more slimy, 
the scales on the back partly sink into the skin, 
and the flesh changes from salmon red and be- 
comes variously paler, from the loss of oil; the 
degree of paleness varying much with individuals 
and with inhabitants of different rivers. In the 
Sacramento the flesh of the quinnat, in either spring 
or fall, is rarely pale. In the Columbia a few with 
pale flesh are sometimes taken in spring, and a 
good many in the fall. In Frazer River the fall 
run of the quinnat is nearly worthless for canning 
purposes, because so many are “ white-meated.” 
In the spring very few are “ white-meated ;” but the 
number increases towards fall, when there is every 
variation, some having red streaks running through 
them, others being red toward the head and pale 
toward the tail. The red and pale ones cannot be 
distinguished externally, and the color is dependent 
on neither age norsex. There is said to be no differ- 
ence in the taste, but there is no market for canned 
salmon not of the conventional orange-color. 
