58 SALMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



Old females frequently show small knobs, and instances have been recorded 

 in winch large ones* have existed, and still the fish has been fertile. Other sexnal 

 distinctions have already been referred to (page 23 aiitf). 



Navies. — Speaking generally this fish in its full-grown condition is known as the 

 salmon; in the Severn, one on 'its second return from the sea is often called a gerl- 

 ing or gillion or gilling (this term seems to be one which is mostly used in order to 

 refer to the size of the fish, as fi^om 8 lb. to 15 lb.) or a botcher on its first return 

 when under 5 lb. weight, although the more general designation is grilse (Pennant 

 termed them gilse) ; when under 2 lb. weight it is usually termed salmon-2>eal by 

 ■ fishmongers. From one to two years old, before it has gone to the sea it is known 

 as a par,'\ innJc, smolf, smelt, salmon-fry, sprag, ov salmon-spring (Northumberland), 

 samlet, hrandling, fingerling, hlach-fin, blue-fin, shed, sl-egger, gravelling, hepper, 

 laspiring, gravel-laspring, sJcerling, or sparling in Wales ; spaion (in the Dart, 

 A.Pike): iHoor-r/cd (Exmoor) : mor^afe (Somersetshire): s/rca^jer (in the Tamar, 

 W. Mason). Isaak Walton used the terms tecon, samlet and slceggcr for the young 

 of the salmon. A third-year salmon is known as o^ pug (Halliwell). In Northum- 

 berland a "milter" or spawning male is known as a summer-cock or gib-fish, 

 and a salmon as a simcn. In the Severn, a salmon which has remained in 

 fresh water during the summer without going to the sea is termed a laurel, but 

 usually applied there to a well-mended kelt. After spawning it is a helt or 

 slat, but a male is generally termed a hipperX and a female a shedder or a bag git, this 

 latter term according to Jameson means " pregnant " or " gravid " fish : also at 

 Inverness as macks and shiags (Eraser). In the Kibble, according to Willoughby, 

 salmon of the first year were termed smelts, of the second year sprods, of the third 

 year morts, of the fourth year fork-tails, of the fifth year half-fish, of the sixth year 

 salmon.^ Dr. Davy also observed that mort and sprod were names used in Cumber- 

 land indiscriminately to the salmon and salmon-trout. In an old work we are told 

 that in the north of Scotland the fry were tei-med brood and cockspier, and Stoddart 

 mentioned the largest and most compactly built ones being called grcy-schule which 

 ascend for spawning in October until February, In the Tay those exhausted during 

 spawning-time are termed Mofi^at-men {Parliamentary Commission, 1824, p. 61). 

 The designation hdl-salmon and bull-pinks employed in the Kirkcudbright Dee 

 has been said to refer to well-mended kelts. In Ireland Sampson remarked upon a 

 samlet ov jerkin which Tighe termed a ginkin, but the term par was more frequently 

 employed to the north and gravel-ing to the south. Par are also termed rack-rider 

 or sprats and larger ones leaders (Miller). At Kerry a kelt is termed judy, and 

 Rutty stated that a grilse was called a graiol, and Johnston that it was known in 

 Lough Foyle as a grayling. Welsh, caxvg, male salmon : cemyiv hwyddell, female 

 salmon : spawning, maran, or a salmon on his third retui^n from the sea (Severn). 

 {gleisiedyn, cog, and maran, Pennant.) Be Zalm, Dutch. Le Saumon, French. 



A correspondent of Land and Water (Scotxcs, March 27th, 1880) gave a list 

 of the Gaelic names for salmon in the Highlands of Scotland as follows : — 



The fish after this is rather snub-nosed, and the point is rather indented and Hght coloured, but 

 it soon wears smooth and resumes its proper shape." The slight tap to render a salmon, such as 

 I have figured, " snub-nosed," would have to break off most of the premaxillary bones (No. 17) 

 and the anterior end of the mandibles (No. 34); and even then, should the fish survive, its snout 

 would never "wear smooth and resume its proper shape." 



* In 1884, when fishing aj river in N.W. Eoss-shire, I killed a salmon having most fully 

 developed the " horny projection," and the same day another salmon was killed by a friend, 

 also having the same horny projection. These two fish on being cut up were both found to 

 contain well-developed ova, and were undoubtedly female fish. A third friend who had fished 

 the same river for ten years, said to us, that only once before had a similar case come under his 



notice The first two fish weighed about the same, viz., 11 lb. (J. Harvie-Brown, Zoologist, 



May, 1886, page 215). 



t Jameson in his Scottish Dictionary spells this form jwr, and parr appears to be a modern 

 innovation. 



\ In Acts of Parliament passed in the time of Queen Anne, Salmon strikes or Icijipers are 

 mentioned. 



§ Prior to 1861, when angling for young salmon was stopped in the Severn above Shrewsbury, 

 the March, April and May shcals formed of pars or pinks were known as salmon-fry, and the 

 autumn smolts as samkts. 



