66 SALMONID^. 



formerly been in the habit of doing so. On the 2nd of 

 November, 1835, I killed, with fly, fourteen Salmon, from 

 ten to twenty pounds' weight, every one of which was in as 

 fine condition as fish caught in the end of July. 



"It is singular enough that in the early part of the sea- 

 son, when the first show of young Salmon comes up the 

 Tweed, however small they may be, they are all denominated 

 Salmon. I have killed them under three pounds ; yet that 

 fish was called a Salmon, and the fishermen, I mean those 

 above Berwick or Norham, all allege that no Grilses ascend 

 the river till the second great shoal come up about the be- 

 ginning of June. The Berwick people are, however, now 

 convinced that the Grilse is neither more nor less than a young 

 Salmon, and accordingly call it so. 



" I have always considered the Salmon as a sea fish, 

 leaving it for the river for the sole purpose of spawning. 

 That during the period they remain in the fresh water, they 

 are not only nearly stationary as to growth, but lose, and 

 rapidly top, their fine condition, and their flesh its fine and 

 delicate flavour. This I consider chiefly occasioned by their 

 not being able to obtain the more nutritious food of various 

 kinds which they find in the sea. 



" The Salmon is no doubt a very voracious feeder at 

 times. 



" The first Salmon I ever caught was with the minnow, 

 in the month of June, 1783, when I was a boy of thirteen, 

 fishing for Trout. That fish weighed eighteen pounds ; and 

 since that time I have frequently killed ten or twelve Salmon 

 in one day with a minnow ; the worm also is a very deadly 

 bait, when the river gets low in summer, and in the upper 

 parts of the river the worm is the principal bait used during 

 the whole of the spring fishing season. In the summer, too, 

 numbers of Salmon are caught with the parr tail. 



" I have often known a Salmon Kelt take away a set of 



