26 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



Loch Naver, which is a big, deep lake, than into 

 Loch More, which is very small and no more than 

 twelve feet deep in any part, and in which, on 

 account of its shallowness, the water in early spring 

 is several degrees colder than that of Loch Naver. 



The Helmsdale and Brora discharge themselves 

 into the Moray Firth on the south coast of Suther- 

 landshire, and, although somewhat later than the 

 Thurso or Naver, are both spring rivers ; in both 

 also there exist obstructions, which, as a rule, pre- 

 vent salmon from attempting to get over the falls, 

 before a certain time — that is, the third week in April 

 and the first in May respectively. 



In my experience of several years on the Helmsdale 

 I never found salmon above the falls before the 20th 

 of April but once. In that year the weather in spring 

 was unusually mild, and there had been a succession 

 of heavy floods for some weeks previously. That 

 occasion, however, was exceptional ; for a close ob- 

 server says that the habit of the Helmsdale fish has 

 not changed. The Helmsdale flows out of Baden 



