4 6 The Salmon 



Date of Weight 



Marking. in Ibs. 



Feb. 14, 1906 . .12 



Jan. 1 6, 1906 . .11 



Jan. 19, 1906 . .12^ 



March 8. 1905 . . 13 



Date of Weight 



Recapture. in Ibs. 



Aug. 4, 1906 . . 2o| 



July 25, 1906 . 24^ 



May 18, 1907 . . 23^ 



July 21, 1906 . 27 



There is not the slightest doubt that the short and the long period in 

 the sea are common to all the different runs. I need not, however, 

 pursue this matter further, as it would be confusing, for the next run 

 of fish would be pretty much the same. I will endeavour, when 

 describing the scales, to give more information as to the time these 

 fish remain in the sea after having been in the river as clean fish. The 

 marking of so many fish in different rivers and their capture afterwards 

 prove that almost all fish return to their own native river. A few have 

 certainly been got a considerable distance from their own river, but it is 

 probable that even these would have found their way back to their own 

 river had they escaped capture. This, then, is a good guarantee to those 

 who have charge of any river, that whatever improvement they make 

 is for the benefit of their own river and not for those of other people. 



Since writing the above we have seen the close of the netting 

 season of 1907 ; and from the marking of the smolts and its results 

 most valuable information has been obtained respecting the supply 

 of salmon in after years. The year 1905 was a good year for smolts ; 

 1906 was therefore a good year for grilse; 1907 was a good year for 

 small spring fish; from this I expected that 1908 would be a good 

 year for large spring fish, and such has been the case. On the other 

 hand, 1907 was a bad year for grilse, and I accordingly suspected 

 that 1908 would be a bad year for small spring fish; and this year 

 1908 being a good grilse season, will also be a good year for small 

 spring fish in 1909, and a good year for large spring fish in 1910. This 

 will apply both to England and Scotland, and so well do we know this 

 now that I can almost tell what proportion of fish will follow in the 

 different runs from the number of grilse captured. 



On 5th July 1909 we caught in our nets on the Tay a female fish 

 of 26^ Ibs. (Fig. 42), one of those marked as a smolt in May 1905. 



