36 THE LIFE OF THE SALMON 



bottom. Isolated cases have occurred of salmon 

 being captured on cod lines off Scotland, and of steam 

 trawlers capturing salmon ten to forty miles from 

 land,* 1 and I have heard of the capture of a salmon 

 in the Pacific, some 400 miles off the American coast. 

 This was, of course, not salmo salar, but none the 

 less the occurrence is interesting, as showing that 

 salmonids do go far from land. Yet no marked 

 salmon has been caught after crossing the North Sea 

 or even St. George's Channel. One or two Nor- 

 wegian marked fish did, I understand, turn up in 

 England, but on investigation it was found that 

 they had come across the North Sea in a steamer, 

 just as one or two Scottish marked fish which were 

 discovered in a fish shop in Cornwall went from 

 Aberdeen by rail. In pursuit of their natural food, 

 however, both grilse and salmon clearly leave the 

 coast, and the fact above referred to that grilse 

 make their appearance in the coast nets somewhat 

 abruptly, and that a good " head of salmon " some- 

 times occurs simultaneously with this run of grilse, 

 leads to the inference that they have forsaken the 

 feeding grounds when they draw in to the land and 

 move along the coast. On the east and south coasts 

 of Skye and the east side of the island of Raasay the 

 bag nets catch such a large proportion of grilse that 

 the fishery may be spoken of as a grilse fishery. 

 On this account the nets are not put in the water 

 at the commencement of the season, but only 

 brought up to full strength before the main runs of 



* Twenty-fourth Annual Report, Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 Part II. p. 76. 



