The Salmon 15 



beforehand from a study of the scales of fish, which I will endeavour 

 to explain in a later section dealing with scales. 



What has been said of the marked fish may be put in a con- 

 densed form as follows. The fry which were hatched in March 1903 

 became smolts in April 1905, and migrated to the sea in April and 

 May 1905 at the age of two years. The first run of these returned 

 to the river as grilse weighing from i^ to 12 or 13 Ibs., from the last 



FIG. II. Stormonttield Ponds on the Tay, erected 1852. 



week in May till the end of December 1906. The second run 

 continued to come from the middle of December 1906 to the middle 

 of June 1907, and weighed from 6 to 13 Ibs. The third run returned 

 from the middle of July 1907 to the end of December, and weighed 

 from 12 to 30 Ibs. The fourth run extended from the middle of 

 October 1907 to the end of May 1908, and weighed from 13 to 38 and 

 occasionally 40 Ibs. The average weight was about 20 Ibs., but it 

 varies a pound or two from year to year. The fifth run came on in 



