Aquatic birds are known to be of more or less assistance to the government in the dissem ination of fish spawn. Naturalists tell us that these birds frequently carry the eggs from river to river and from lake to lake, by having their feet covered with the eggs. In the course of their flight the birds come to an inland sheet of water or small creek, where they dive in or wade into the water and the eggs are washed from their feet. In this way the waters be come populated with new species and propaga tion progresses.
Fish culture has been found exceedingly profitable, too, as a private business or industry. There are over 400 fish hatcheries in Europe, and more than one-half of these are owned by individuals. The Trout Pond Association, at Cold Springs, N. H., which began business in 1866, added a black bass branch in 1868, and erected salmon-breeding works in 1879, which in the first year yielded 450,000 eggs.
Several of the States have organized inde pendent State Fish Commissions for the ex press purpose of disseminating the "Urys of food-fish in public waters. This is true of New York, whose commission of five members is ap pointed by the governor. The commission has
established five hatcheries for the propagation of the °fry"' from the eggs of the female fisk as follows: The Adirondack, Saranac; Cold Spring, Long Island; in Franklin County; Old Forge in the Fulton chain; at Newton Corners, and in Chautauqua County.
Bibliography.—Armistead, 'Angler's Para dise) (London 1895) ; Bund, 'Fishery Manage (ib. 1899) ; Day, 'Fish Culture) (ib. 1883) ; Gobin, 'La pisciculture en eaux douces> (Paris 1889) ; id., 'La pisciculture en eaux salees) (ib. 1891) • Maitland, 'On the Culture of Salmonidae and the Acclimatization of (London 1883) ; Mather, 'Modern Fish Cul ture) (New York 1900) ; Max von dem Borne, (Fischzucht) (Berlin 1881) ; Meehan, 'Fish Culture) (New York 1913) ; Stone, 'Domesti cated Trout) (Charlestown, N. H., 1877); Townsend, 'Cultivation of Fishes in Natural and Artificial Ponds' (New York 1907) ; 'An nual Reports) of the United States Fish Com mission (Washington 1871 et seq.); 'Bulletins' of the United States Fish Commission (ib. 1882 et seq.) ; of Fish Culture,' issued by the United States Bureau of Fisheries (ib. 1900).