Spawn

“ The spawn of some fish is a good bait, to be used at such time as that fish is spawning: some days before they spawn they will bite eagerly; if you take one that is full-bellied, take out the spawn, boil it so hard as to stick on your hook, and so use it; or not boil it at all, the spawn of Salmon is the best of all sorts of spawn. ”

“ The spawn is also often found in pasture fields under the turf, in places where rooms are observed to rise naturally, dung-spawn however is preferable for garden culture, as well on account of the probability of a good crop, as of it's being the true sort. ”

“ The period of spawning differs in various rivers from natural causes, such as snow, cold rains, or inclement weather; for, as Trout, like salmon, spawn on gravel beds in shallow water, the cold readily affects them. ”

“ The same Herrings, however, do not spawn twice annually, the summer and winter stock being races apart, whose spawning localities essentially differ. Winter spawners frequent inshore brackish waters, whereas summer spawners are more strictly sea-dwellers, coming near the coast, but not into estuaries at spawning season. ”

“ The more certain solution is, that they devour their own spawn; and this may be accounted for by the little room they have to range in search of food. Besides, all creatures are, more or less, denaturalized by confinement. ”

“ The spawn lies buried until spring, and, without any other care, is nourished and brought to perfection, if not disturbed by violent floods, or by depredations from other fish, of which the eel, roach, dace, and grayling, are dangerous neighbours. ”

“ I had a son, crooked spawn of a Christian!—a son, not like you, cankered, gnarled stump of life that you are,—but a youth tall and fair and noble in aspect, as became a child of one whose lineage makes Pharaoh modern,—a youth whose foot in the dance was as swift and beautiful to look at as the golden sandals of the sun when he dances upon the sea in summer. ”

“ If it is not sufficiently cooled, it will be safer to make holes in the usual manner for the spawn; but if in a fit state, then I think the broadcast spawning and earthing, as before described, is the best plan. ”

“ There they either select an old spawning place, a sort of trough left in the channel, or form a fresh one. They are not fond of working in new loose channels, which would be liable to be removed by a slight flood, to the destruction of their spawn. The spawning bed is made by the female. Some have fancied that the elongation of the lower jaw in the male, which is somewhat in the form of a crook, is designed by nature to enable him to excavate the spawning trough. ”

“ The spawn is exposed to so many dangers, that a very small proportion can ever become fishes, for beside being the constant prey of birds and fishes, a great many nests are made so near the shore, in shallow water, that they are left dry in a few days, as the river goes down. These and the lamprey's are the only fishes' nests that I have observed, though the ova of some species may be seen floating on the surface. ”

“ Looking up the river, we could count some hundreds of tents pitched among the crops or sheltered by the forest, the fires of the encampment sending up columns of smoke, and groups of horses [Pg 315] being picketed everywhere amongst them. A few boats and two large ships of Phœnician build were moored to the shore; but what struck us most of all was the swarms of soldiers, many of them with swords drawn and lance in hand, who were posted everywhere alike on the river-bank, in the pastures, among the crops, and along the skirts of the forest. ”

“ Often by day you would see great swarms of people clustered about upon the ledge of rocks west of the city just at the foot of the stockade, with their eyes turned up river, as if they expected to see a French flotilla appear in sight at any moment. ”

“ Before we leave, hints of more deeply hidden secrets of the marsh may perhaps come to us. A swamp sparrow may show by its actions that its nest is not far away; from the depths of a ditch jungle the clatter of some rail comes faintly to our ears, and the distant croak of a night heron reaches us from its feeding-grounds, guarded by the deeper waters. ”

“ As Professor Lovèn writes, "The littoral region comprises the favored zones of the sea where light and shade, a genial temperature, currents changeable in power and direction, a rich vegetation spread over extensive areas, abundance of food, of prey to allure, of enemies to withstand or evade, represent an infinitude of agents competent to call into play the tendencies to vary which are embodied in each species, and always ready by modifying its parts to respond to the influences of external conditions." ”

“ Then the remembrance of the story of the valuable cargo of the Flying-fish flashed across my memory. According to the reports of the spies and guides, all this valuable booty which the mutineers had seized upon was stowed away in caves well known to their insurgent allies. Well, here was a cave big enough in all conscience to hold the cargo of an ordinary merchantman; but where in the name of all that was wonderful was this much-talked-of loot? I could see no traces of it, and I felt sure that my eye embraced the main portion of the giant cave. Stay! ”

“ Show in your sand-map a place where rapids might be. If there is a river near you which has rapids, go to the spot and see if you can tell what it is that makes the rapids.
Show in your map the hunting grounds of the clans which met at the rapids. Find the trails they would follow in going to the rapids.
Find out all you can about the habits of the salmon.
A necklace of fossil shells. The Meeting of the Clans
At his parting from Willow-grouse, Fleetfoot gave her a necklace of fossil shells. Then saying, “We shall meet when the new moon comes,” he started on his way. ”

“ Imagine the wharves of the largest city in the world, decayed, and the earth and planking washed away, leaving the spiles standing in loose order, but often of twice the ordinary height, and mingled with and beating against them the wreck of ten thousand navies, all their spars and timbers, while there rises from the water's edge the densest and grimmest wilderness, ready to supply more material when the former fails, and you may get a faint idea of that coast. ”

“ When the hunter's moon rose full and clear over the woods, filling all animals with strange unrest, the pack would circle the great harbor, trotting silently along, nose to tail in single file, keeping on the high ridge of mountains and looking like a distant train of husky dogs against the moonlight. When over the fishing village they would sit down, each one on the loftiest rock he could find, raise their muzzles to the stars, and join in the long howl, Ooooooo-wow-ow-ow! ”

“ The best otter-hunting grounds in the world! A harbor as smooth as glass, mountain-girt, sheltered as a hole in a wall, right in the centre of the hunting-grounds, yet shut off from the rioting north winds that shook the rickety vessels to pieces! And best of all, along the sandy shore between the ship and the mountains that receded inland tier on tier into the clouds—the dome-roofed, underground dwellings of two or three thousand native hunters ready to risk the surf of the otter hunt at Drusenin's beck! ”

“ Under cover of the forest by day, and hidden in their cave by night, they intended to complete the raft, and when it was ready it would not be difficult to steal away to the ship with the treasure, under cover of darkness, hoist the sails, and creep out to sea, bidding defiance to the Major and his comrades and leaving the miners and the “Flipper’s” crew to perish on the lonely island. ”

“ If anything does go wrong and you hear people coming up, make for the hiding-place in the ivy again. And look here, I don’t believe they will find where you are hidden, but take the coil with you, and if anyone is coming to search the roof, make the rope fast to one of the chimney-stacks, watch for your chance, slide down, and then make for the forest to find a hiding-place somewhere down by the river. ”

“ There were always growing things to see in the dykes, marsh-buttercups on some pool, purple vetches on some hedge. Somewhere a farm would stand up between its orchard and fields, and meet him always with a new surprise. Houses never outstared you on the marsh, for all its long distances and unbroken sweep. They grew upon you by degrees, coming, yet keeping themselves in reserve, like faces peeping welcome round a porch. ”

“ Let the bricks and mortar stride far as they will over the greensward, there are always sanctuaries beyond—sweet spots where we may yet listen to the singing of the birds, and pluck the early primrose and anemone. We need but take our survey from a sufficiently high point, to see that the vastest mass of houses ever heaped together by man is still only an encampment in the fields. Like the waves of the sea upon the [2] shores of the islands, the surge of the yellow corn is still close upon our borders. ”

“ Even where migration does not bring it face to face with new competitors or new enemies or new prey, it inevitably experiences new proportions among these. Further, an expanding species is almost certain to invade more than one adjacent region. Spreading both north and south, or east and west, it will come among the plants and animals, here of a level district and there of a hilly one—here of an inland tract and there of a tract bordered by the sea. ”

“ Tell the surveyors and the lieutenant that I will not permit them to advance through the ravine. They must recross the river, or be annihilated. For yourself, if you choose to return, there is a mystic cavern in yonder cliff, and together we will summon the spirits that await my bidding, and seek to learn your father’s fate. ”

“ This movement may concern an individual, a species, or a group of species. From the nature of invasion, which contains the double idea of going into and taking possession of, it usually operates between contiguous formations, but it also takes place between formational zones and patches. More rarely and less noticeably, there may be invasion into a remote vegetation, as a result of long carriage by wind, water, birds, railroads, or vessels. ”

“ Before me is the reedy swamp, with its open patches of water, glittering like mirrors in the bright sunlight, rippled in all directions by busy beavers: some making a hasty retreat to their castles, others swimming craftily along, crawl on to the domes and peep at the intruder. ”

“ If on a ridge, hill, or kopje, the emplacement must be over the sky-line either on one slope or the other; take a place where Nature helps you, if possible screened by trees, free of rocks, and with soft ground, dongas, or water round it, so that the enemy's shells will bury themselves and not burst on striking. ”

“ The miners have five guineas for every two yards, which they work by blasting the rock with gunpowder. We entered the boat, and my friend and I had each a chair to sit upon, our guides fitting one at the head, the other at the stern of the boat. When we had gone six hundred yards, we came to a large natural cavern in the rock, where there was a most dreadful roar of waters; we stopped here to see a water fall from an artificial dam made to keep up the level of water through the navigation. ”

“ Around the field was a wide border of infinitesimal hats and pale faces, rising in tiers, and beyond this border fences, hoardings, chimneys, furnaces, gasometers, telegraph-poles, houses, and dead trees. And here and there, perched in strange perilous places, even high up towards the sombre sky, were more human beings clinging. ”

“ They are careful, too, to place this trap in the neighborhood of some rushing river or some stilly pool where in the moonlight or at earliest flush of dawn the great creature must go to lap the cooling water. Then, when it has crashed through into helpless captivity, the small cunning enemy may work their will upon it. ”

“ But if the surface of the deep be calm, and the rafts are carried along by a current, or wafted by some slight breath of air fanning the foliage of the green trees, it may arrive, after a passage of several weeks, at the bay of an island, into which its plants and animals may be poured out as from an ark, and thus a colony of several hundred new species may at once be naturalized. ”

“ Here, too, were most fair hunting grounds, offering the hunter choice between enclosed parks [5] and a wide expanse of field and fell; 16and all around there flowed a river full of fish of every sort; and for the sportsman versed in fowling, winged game in abundance. ”

“ Amongst the more important of these is a fishing station on the coast, where, by certain improved modes of erecting snares, opening at the advance of the tide, and shutting at the reflux, many more fish are taken than can be destroyed by those who, like the men of Broken-burn, use only the boat-net and spear, or fishing-rod. ”

“ Over fences and gullies, and then a wide ravine; through brush and dense timber, whose gnarled and low-hanging branches literally tore men from their saddles; across a great marsh where horses almost swamped—onward the resistless force rushes and strikes the enemy fully and fairly. ”

“ Every abnormal change in the features of a primitive landscape—the erection of a lookout-tower, a clearing in the midst of a primeval forest—attracts swarms of inquisitive birds, even crows and shy hawks, who seem to recognize the advantage of reconnoitering the topography of their hunting-grounds. ”

“ From drinking-place and carrot patch and berry swamp the Folk are trooping into the open space before the caves. They dare linger no later than this, for the dreadful darkness is approaching, in which the world is given over to the carnage of the hunting animals, while the fore-runners of man hide tremblingly in their holes. ”

“ The crowding sampans, houseboats, and junks stretched far out into its oily, oozy flow, making a floating city as he neared the congested life of the coast, where the ever-increasing population failed to find ground space in its maggoty swarming. ”