History and Habits 19 



remain a good deal longer in the sea before re- 

 turning as grilse (and this by reason of most of 

 the American salmon rivers being ice bound 

 for four or five months of the year) than in 

 the British rivers. For all this they are not so 

 large as their European brethren. Mr. Pennell 

 mentions the average weight of grilse as four to 

 six pounds, and I think that nearer three than 

 four pounds would be the average here. While 

 it is possible that the smolts which go to the sea 

 in August and September may return while the 

 ice is in the river or before the next summer, none 

 has ever been seen during this period of time, 

 while several smolts which were tagged in August 

 on the Restigouche have been caught as grilse 

 the next July and were of the average weight — a 

 little over three pounds. 



After the grilse becomes a salmon, he is likely 

 to come to fresh water every year of his life and, 

 if not prevented, to his native river, though that a 

 portion of the salmon of all rivers remain in the 

 sea every year is well established, and is a precau- 

 tion of nature against the entire destruction of 

 any one crop of fish. The habits as to the ascent 

 of the rivers vary greatly. In some, there is a 

 run of large fish, entirely females, which enter the 



