After five or ten minutes the male pays her a visit to see how she is getting along. He looks around a little, eats a few of the eggs if he can find any uncovered, and then retires to his lurking place again, where he remains twenty minutes with only occasional visits to the female before he recovers from the exhaustion which he has undergone. The female does not seem to rest, she continues covering the eggs and does not then leave the place. The reason tor this is that she has not yet emitted all her eggs, for trout occupy some time in their spawning, laying their eggs at intervals, as they become ripe. Observers differ as to the length of time occupied in spawning. The time is not usually more than three days, although sometimes extending to six days, the female covering the eggs as she emits them.

When it is understood that some of the eggs do not sink into the nest, but are carried off by the current, and that only a part of every batch escape the jaws of their parents, and of the many trout swimming around the spawning place, one may begin to preceive the advantage of artificial methods. To make the danger of loss greater; after the nest is finished, the parents gone, and the eggs nicely hatching, another pair come along intent on similar business. The female sees the place where the first has laid her eggs, and, fancying it a good spot for her own nest, begins to make one there. As soon as the eggs are uncovered, by the preparatory operations, the pair eat up all they can find, and then proceed to lay their own eggs, only perhaps, to be served in the same way by others. When it is considered, also, that all kinds of water-fowl are fond of these eggs and diligently search after them, and that in the spring time the young fry furnish a large proportion of food for the older ones, the wonder seems to be, not that there are so few trout in our streams, but that there are any left. Another cause of the rapid diminution of trout in settled countries, is the tame ducks which are allowed on the stream. They wander at will peacefully up and down the stream, explore every foot of the bottom, turning over the gravel with their long bills, and leaving very few of the eggs to hatch.

Number Of Eggs

The number of spawn which a trout will give has been variously estimated. They commence spawning at two years old if well fed and large. It has been asserted that eggs have been taken from a trout one year old, or rather taken in the winter of the same year in which it was hatched. This may be so, but it is more interesting in a physiological point of view than for any practical purpose, as there are so few that it is not worth while to take them. A trout two years old will give from two hundred to five hundred eggs, a three year old from five hundred to one thousand eggs, a four or five year old from one thousand to two thousand eggs. This is only an approximation, as the number of spawn depends upon the weight and health of the fish, and not on its age. In some cases the number of eggs is much greater, but four thousand is the most we have ever seen taken from one trout. In estimating the number of spawn from a given number of fish in a pond, it must be remembered that some are barren, and some diseased, and some, perhaps, will not go up into the race. So that the average yield of two and three year olds, females only counted, will not be over five hundred, of four and five year olds, not over one thousand each.

The proportion of males to females in a pond should be about one half. Not so many are necessary to fecun-date the eggs, and it would be an advantage in one way to have fewer, since then there would not be so much fighting in choosing partners, and as all the females do not spawn at once, one male would be enough to serve several females; but, on the other hand, the males seem to run out of milt before the females get through laying their eggs, and towards the close of the season it is often difficult to obtain males with milt enough to fecundate the eggs; so that it seems better to have in the pond an equal number of males and females, thereby giving more chance of saving some of the milt till the last of the season. The males are very amorous and will pair again and again. It very often happens that some of them die from the exhausting effects of the season. The best way is to have an equal number of males and females, everything considered.

Taking Spawn By Hand

The trout will not spawn in the ponds where the bottom consists of large stones or weeds ; but if there is sand or gravel anywhere on the bottom of the ponds they will spawn on it: Therefore be careful to have only the raceway, where the water enters, covered with gravel. In October this may be washed and cleaned from the weeds which will have grown in it during the year. As soon as the fish are ready to spawn they will ascend from the ponds into the raceway seeking a place to nest. Then they are ready to be taken out and the spawn expressed. At the entrance of the raceway there should be grooves to receive a frame on which is tacked a net of coarse bagging about eight or ten feet long. One corner of this bag should be narrowed, left unsewn, and tied with a string, like the mouth of a meal sack. The race should be covered over in spawning time, as the fish will come under the cover better and are not* so likely to be frightened by any one passing. If there are fifteen hundred or two thousand fish in the pond the net may be used ever}7 day in the height of the season, and when the fish become scarce, once in two or three days.

Indications of spawning having been observed, the covers are put on the races, and as soon as there are fish in the raceway, the net is gathered up in one hand and the frame held in the other, in such a position as to be put in the grooves as quickly as possible so as to let none of the fish escape from the race. Go quietly to the spot, and do not walk down the raceway to get to it but approach from one side and put the net in the groove as quickly as you can. The water running down will swell the net out to its full length. The covers may be then removed, and with a stick you may frighten the fish down from the head of the raceway into the net As soon as they are all in, the frame may be lifted out of the water, and the fish are then enclosed in the bag A tub of water should be previously brought near the spot, and the end of the net can be lifted into the tut and untied, when the fish will all fall into the tub with out trouble. Coarse cloth is better for the purpose than netting, as it can be more easily tacked to the frame, does not hurt the fish so much, and lasts longer; besides, the water swells it out and holds it open for the fish to run in better than it would a net, and the fish not seeing you through the cloth as the}7 would through an open mesh, are not scared, and do not try to run back up the race.