SALMON. 



racter alluded to could not be seen. Its actual existence, 

 however, could be easily proved by removing the deciduous 

 silvery scales, when the barred markings became apparent, 

 and, of course, continued so to whatever light exposed. My 

 next opportunity occurred on the 3rd of May, 1833. The 

 appearance was exactly the same as that which I have just 

 described. They passed down the river in small family 

 groups or shoals of from forty to sixty and upwards, their 

 rate of progression being about two miles an hour. The 

 caution which they exercised in descending the several rapids 

 they met with in the course of their journey was very amus- 

 ing. They no sooner came within the influence of any rapid 

 current than they in an instant turned their heads up the 

 stream, and would again and again permit themselves to be 

 carried to the very brink, and as often retreat upwards, till at 

 length one or two, bolder than the others, permitted them- 

 selves to be carried over the current, when the entire flock, 

 one by one, disappeared, and then, so soon as they had 

 reached comparatively still water, they again turned their 

 heads towards the sea, and resumed their journey. The 

 third opportunity to which I shall here refer occurred in May 

 1836, at which time, as I have stated, I compared a few of 

 the descending Smolts with those which (having been two 

 years in my possession as Parr) had, in the confinement of 

 the Pond, assumed the corresponding silvery aspect of the 

 Salmon-fry. The river during this month being remarkably 

 low, I was thus enabled to ascertain more accurately the time 

 during which they continued to migrate, which I found to 

 be nearly throughout the whole of the month, but more 

 especially in the course of the second week, in which the 

 shoals were both larger, and more frequent in their successive 

 arrivals. Their external aspect was the same as that of the 

 former shoals, and the average length, as usual, from six to 

 seven inches. 



