PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 



FISH and their ways have at all times engaged the attention of the 

 writer, and the outcome of these studies has been the production 

 of this volume. Within its pages he has endeavoured to clear up 

 many points relative to the history of salmon and trout which have 

 until lately remained a mystery. So many unsatisfactory theories 

 have been advanced, that he determined to take full advantage of 

 his position as Manager of the Tay Salmon Fisheries Co., Ltd., and 

 do all in his power to investigate and further our knowledge regard- 

 ing this most interesting branch of Natural History. With this end 

 in view, the marking of smolts on their way to the sea, and their 

 recapture afterwards, have been extensively carried- on, and their 

 weight, date of capture, and the particular run to which they be- 

 longed, have been carefully recorded. 



Hitherto it was believed that salmon smolts returned as grilse 

 the same year as they went down to the sea, but a study of the smolt 

 does not bear this out. Again, the writer shows that the large 

 Spring salmon, the small Spring salmon, and also the " Summer 

 Run," are on their first return from the sea, and not from the kelt 

 grilse as many supposed. Evidence is also given that the so-called 

 salmon bull-trout is not a trout, but a true salmon which has spawned, 

 and consequently has become altered in appearance and white in the 

 flesh. From a study of the scales the age of a fish can be arrived 



VI 1 



