THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 27 



Loch — a big lake, one of a chain fourteen miles long — 

 and has a course of about twenty miles to the tideway. 

 The falls are situated about midw£iy. There are no 

 big lakes above the falls of the Brora, Loch Brora 

 being some distance below. In spring salmon run 

 up the lower Brora into Loch Brora, then up the 

 river above the loch as far as the falls, but they never 

 try to pass up them until about the 2nd of May, 

 or a fortnight later than they do on the Helmsdale. 

 I account for the difference in the habits of these fish 

 by the fact that there is more snow-water running 

 in the Brora than in the Helmsdale ; also by the 

 fact that, as there are no big lakes above the falls in 

 the Brora, the temperature of the water there is lower 

 than it is in the river above the falls in the Helmsdale, 

 whose waters are warmed by the thermal supply 

 flowing from the chain of big lakes at the head of 

 the river. 



What do we find in the Shin and the Oykel, both 

 of which rivers empty themselves into the Kyle 

 of Sutherland ? Apart from my own ideas I have 



