SALMON. .0 



them, which will be explained hereafter. It is observed 

 that the female fish appear before the males ; and the young 

 fish on their first return from the sea, called Grilse till they 

 have spawned once, ascend earlier than those of more adult 

 age. As the season advances, the Salmon ascend higher up 

 the river beyond the influence of the tide : they are observed 

 to be getting full of roe, and are more or less out of condi- 

 tion according to their forward state as breeding fish. Their 

 progress forwards is not easily stopped ; they shoot up rapids 

 with the velocity of arrows, and make wonderful efforts to 

 surmount cascades and other impediments by leaping, fre- 

 quently clearing an elevation of eight or ten feet, and gaining 

 the water above, pursue their course. If they fail in their 

 attempt and fall back into the stream, it is only to remain a 

 short time quiescent, and thus recruit their strength to enable 

 them to make new efforts. 



These feats of the Salmon are frequently 'watched with 

 all the curiosity such proceedings are likely to excite. Mr. 

 Mudie, in the British Naturalist, describes from personal 

 observation some of the situations from which these extra- 

 ordinary efforts can be witnessed. Of the fall of Kilmorac, 

 on the Beauly, in Invernesshire, it is said, " The pool below 

 that fall is very large ; and as it is the head of the run in one 

 of the finest Salmon rivers in the North, and only a few 

 miles distant from the sea, it is literally thronged with 

 Salmon, which are continually attempting to pass the fall, 

 but without success, as the limit of their perpendicular spring 

 does not appear to exceed twelve or fourteen feet : at least, 

 if they leap higher than that they are aimless and exhausted, 

 and the force of the current dashes them down again before 

 they have recovered their energy. They often kill them- 

 selves by the violence of their exertions to ascend ; and 

 sometimes they fall upon the rocks and are captured. It 

 is indeed said that one of the wonders which the Frascrs of 



