SALMON. 51 



been absent. Fry marked in April or early in May have 

 returned by the end of June weighing from two to three 

 pounds and upwards. The London markets during the latter 

 part of June, and the months of July and August, exhibit 

 young fish varying in weight from two to six pounds. I have 

 one, here figured, that weighed only fifteen ounces, which, 

 judging from its appearance when I bought it, that it had 

 been to sea, is the smallest specimen I have ever seen that 

 had been once to salt water. 



These small-sized fish, when under two pounds' weight, 

 are called by some of the London fishmongers Salmon-Peal ; 

 when larger, Grilse. These fish breed during the winter ; 

 they return from the sea with the roe enlarged ; the ova in a 

 Grilse being of nearly the same comparative size as those 

 observed in a Salmon, but they mature only a much smaller 

 number. The Grilse visit the estuary, remaining for a consi- 

 derable time in the brackish water, afterwards in the tide-way 

 above, ultimately pushing up to the sources of the tributary 

 streams, and, as before observed, rather earlier in the season, 

 in the same river, than the more adult fish. 



It has been a constantly received opinion, that all the 

 young fish after their first visit to the sea return to the 

 rivers in which they had been bred ; and numbers of marked 

 fish are stated to have been retaken in their native rivers : 



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