The Salmon 



127 



Fig. 134 shows the head of the 63-lb. fish caught in October 1907 

 (see p. 120). It weighed 23 Ibs., and the length from snout to gill- 

 cover measured 15 inches. The average weight of the heaviest salmon 

 taken with the nets each year on the Tay for fourteen years is 60 Ibs. 

 2 oz. The largest fish taken in the nets this year (1908) was 63 J Ibs. 



FIG. 134. Head of a 63-lb. Male Salmon, caught by the rod on the Tay, October 1907 



SALMON BRED IN PONDS AND CONFINED IN LOCHS 



Parr hand-fed in ponds differ widely from those bred in their 

 natural state. If they are specially well fed, many of them will become 

 smolts at the age of one year. When this happens the smolt goes 

 on feeding and growing far more quickly than his neighbours in the 

 same pond that are still parr, and will not cease feeding during 

 the winter if food is abundant. When the Stormontfield Ponds 

 were emptied on 23rd March 1908, it was found that something had 



