208 Natural History and Political Impropriation 



12 months in the sea before it was in a condition to visit the 

 river a second time ; and, in the Wharfe, it is the constant 

 practice of the anglers to catch trout through the winter, with 

 very minute roe in them, and in high season, with the worm 

 and salmon roe, and also with night lines. In fact, one of the 

 fishermen has frequently remarked to me, that he occasion- 

 ally caught dishes of trout with the fly in January, in finer 

 season than he has found them in April ; which he accounted 

 for by saying that the spawned fish (kelts) of that season had 

 not begun to rise freely at the fly at the former periods, but 

 that they had at the latter, so that his pannier contained as 

 many kelts as fresh fish. Another reason has just occurred 

 to me: it is, that, in January, the spawned fish will still be in 

 the small brooks in which they are so fond of breeding, and 

 of course, the bulk of the fish remaining in the river at that 

 period would be fish in good season. 



As it is some years since I acquired part of this inform- 

 ation, I have felt afraid of giving it incorrectly; and I have, 

 therefore, addressed a letter to a friend living on the banks of 

 the Wharfe, requesting him to send me all the information 

 in his possession on this subject, as well that derived from his 

 own observation as that collected from others. He has, and 

 since the above was written, sent me the following reply : — 



" I have seen R^ (one of the best anglers and fly-makers 



between Cornwall and Caithness), and have had some con- 

 versation with him on the subject of salmon, &c. He is of 

 opinion that the spawn of the salmon remains five months in 

 the gravel before hatching. He examined the spawn in April, 



and found the young fry alive in the egg; and I m (another 



angler) took some home, and kept one of the smelts two or 



three months. I have subsequently seen I m, and he has 



given me the same account. All the fishermen here are of 

 opinion that the female smelts remain one year, and the males 

 two years, before they go down to the sea. The bramblings 

 are supposed to be smelts which remain a year longer than 

 the usual time ; they are few in number, and are taken gene- 

 rally with the May fly. I have no doubt that the above 

 opinions are correct ; for we have now three distinct sizes of 

 smelts in the river (exclusive of the bramblings), the largest 

 of which are nearly 4 oz. in weight, and are all males, as they 

 contain milt in October and November. The next are the 

 females of the present year : I have had one since the receipt 

 of your letter, which weighed 3^ oz., and measured 5 in. in 

 length (this was a real blue smelt). The third are the males 

 of the same age, and are much smaller : these are occasion- 



