NATURAL HISTORY OF THE QUINNAT SALMON. 
121 
THE ADULT SALMON. 
MIGRATION. 
Do salmon return to tlieir native streams ? — There is a widespread belief that 
when a salmon returns to fresh water to breed it seeks the stream in which it was 
hatched, though there is very little evidence that such is true. Various fishermen 
claim that they can distinguish the salmon of particular streams by their general 
appearance, which is incredible. The employees of the Alaska Packers’ Association 
state that the red salmon taken at Uganuk are always smaller than those taken at 
Karluk, both places on the north coast of Kadiak Island, Alaska; that 13 of the 
former are required to make a case of canned salmon, while only 11 of the latter are 
necessary. Tills seems to indicate that the salmon of the two localities are distinct, 
but the larger salmon may go to Karluk, not because they have been hatched in 
Karluk Lake, but because they are larger. 
In 1897 855,000 quinnat salmon fry were released in Paper-mill Greek and its 
tributaries draining into Tomales Bay, California, and 2,000,000 alevins were 
released in the same streams in 1898. (See “Observations on alevins artificially 
reared.”) In 1900 a few salmon were seen in Paper-mill Creek, and in 1901 they were 
abundant. In one haul of the seine in the tide-water portion of Paper-mill Creek, 
covering a section about 150 feet long, 7 quinnat salmon were taken November 16, 
1901. It is well known that quinnat salmon did not breed in Paper-mill Creek or 
its tributaries previous to 1897, for which reason these streams were selected for the 
experiment. Mr. Thomas Irwin reports that he saw two large salmon in Paper-mill 
Creek about 1890, but with these exceptions he never saw any fishes in the stream 
that might be taken for quinnats until 1900. lie lives on the banks of the creek 
and knows the stream thoroughly. His statement agrees with that of other persons. 
Paper-mill Creek is not suitable for quinnat salmon, being entirely too small, 
but it is frequented by dog salmon and steelheads. 
But there is no conclusive evidence that the fishes which were found in Paper- 
mill Creek in 1900 and 1901 were the same individuals released there three or four 
years previously. They may have been merely stray fishes, and their being found 
there at that time only a coincidence; or their coming into Tomales Bay may have 
been caused by there being an extra large number of salmon in the ocean, which 
might very well be, owing to the large output of young from the hatcheries; or those 
found in Paper-mill Creek in 1900 and 1901 may have been some of those released 
there, in which ease it is very probable that they had never reached the ocean at all, 
but remained in Tomales Bay. Paper-mill Creek would then be their only stream. 
It is incredible that the salmon remember their native stream during their two 
or three years of ocean life and that they consciously seek it when they desire to 
return to fresh water. Probably most of them do return to the stream from which 
they entered the ocean, not because it is their native stream, but because they do not 
get far away from its mouth, and when ready to return to fresh water it is the first to 
attract them. 
The two runs of salmon . — Adult salmon may be found in the Sacramento River 
at almost any time of the year. There are, however, two more or less distinct runs, 
the first of which passes up the river during April, May, and June, and the latter 
during August, September, and October. The former is known as the spring run, 
the latter as the fall run. 
The salmon of the spring run ascend the river to the headwaters, such as the 
Upper Sacramento, McCloud River, and Hat Creek, and some of the earlier ones even 
