78 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



side of a female by the gaff in one night. This is a 

 favourite trick of poachers when they see a pair of 

 fish within reach of the gaff. In the spring you will 

 see a great many fish the tips of whose tails and 

 back fins have lost the skin entirely. This is on 

 account of the water leaving them, when the back fin 

 and the tail by being exposed above the surface of 

 the water become frost-bitten. They will crawl up to 

 their beds at night, when there is not as much water 

 as will half cover them. Yellow trout can be seen 

 spawning with sea trout, sea trout with grilse, and 

 grilse with salmon. I may add, that if the weather 

 keeps very cold, the fish that have spawned in 

 November and December will seldom go down 

 before March, and that the females leave first." 



I now pass to a kindred topic of general, and, 

 to salmon-breeders, of material interest. I am 

 a firm believer in the theory that salmon, as 

 a rule, return periodically from the sea to the 

 rivers in which they were bred. Those of one river 

 differ in shape and condition from those of other 



