Mr D. Ellis an the Natural History of the Salmon. 257 



when they disappear. * Whether the river be early or late, 

 the descent of the fry is made much about the same time in all. 

 It begins in the month of March, continues through April and 

 part of May, and sometimes even to June, -f Mr Halliday also 

 describes the fry as making towards the edges of the river soon 

 after their birth, and keeping in the easy fresh water about its 

 sides : afterwards, as they become stronger, they go more to- 

 wards the mid-stream ; and, when the water is swelled by a lit- 

 tle rain, they move gradually down the river. On meeting the 

 tide, they remain for two or three days in that part where the 

 water becomes a little brackish from the mixture of salt water, 

 till their constitutions become inured to the change, when they 

 go off to sea all at once, sinking down in the bed or channel in 

 the middle J. From the end of March till the middle of May, 

 he has seen them thus descending ; and, in particularly dry 

 seasons, when no floods occur, they sometimes could not get 

 down for want of water until the month of June §. 



That the young fry descend rivers at the times and in the 

 manner above stated, is proved by the evidence of various wit- 

 nesses, and more especially by Messrs Shepherd and Sime. To 

 ascertain the precise course of their descent, both in rivers 

 and in their estuaries, Messrs Shepherd and Sime were many 

 years ago specially appointed, under legal authority, to exa- 

 mine the river and estuary of the Tay, by going up the said 

 estuary and river in the month of April, when the fry were de- 

 scending, till they should find the fry, and see them distinctly 

 making their way downwards. They accordingly proceeded up 

 both sides of the Frith, from one end to the other, but could 

 there meet with no salmon fry between high and low water 

 mark. A little above a place called Carpow-bank, however, 

 where the frith appears to begin, they met with the fry at the 

 sides of the river, where they disappeared in the deep water, 

 and where, with a small net, they caught many of them in the 

 very middle of the channel. Above this point, and all the way 

 upward to Perth, the fry were visible to the eye along the sides 



• Report I. p. 109. f Ibid. p. 62. 



t Ibid. p. 116. i Ibid. p. 63. 



