the Salmon, Herring, and Vendace. 469 



mode of feeding, it is inferior to the true salmon ; and I must 

 say, that, during my investigations, I have found this fact, I mean 

 his inferior quality as food for man, known to most persons in the 

 least degree practically acquainted with fishes. The want of ex- 

 tended observation in these matters has led some distinguished 

 persons into very foolish theories. Sir HUMPHRY DAVY had a 

 theory that all the salmon kind fed on one kind of food, but be- 

 ing unable to explain why the true salmon when taken in rivers 

 even newly run, have the stomach quite empty, he imagined a 

 silly notion, that this abstemiousness of the salmon arose from an 

 instinct instructing him not to load his stomach with food on the 

 eve of a long journey. The truth is, that whilst the stomach of 

 the true salmon seems always empty, that of the sea or salmon 

 trout, from being a coarser feeding fish, is generally quite full. 

 And as to the long journey Sir HUMPHRY thinks they are about 

 to take, he seems not to have known that the salmon, during all 

 the early part of the season, seem to be ascending only so far as 

 the river is influenced by the tide, and generally returning with 

 it when allowed to do so. A glance into a stake-net fish-house, 

 and a very brief inspection of a stage-net fishery (such as those 

 now in use on the Dee at Kirkcudbright, from the bridge below 

 Tongueland to the lowest ebb of the tide), would have pointed 

 out to this excellent chemist the true explanation. 



The true salmon when in rivers above the highest point of 

 the flood-tide, and as an inhabitant thereof, will be found, with 

 certain exceptions to be afterwards explained, out of condition, 

 and unfit for any market in the kingdom : he is in the river, 

 if above the tideway, and after the height of summer, for the 

 special purpose of depositing his spawn : the exceptions to this 

 will be explained hereafter. It naturally happens that whilst 

 in rivers, and still active, he suffers greatly for want of food, 

 and may no doubt sometimes be taken with the ordinary bait 

 of trout ; but so far from there being any extensive series of 



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