92 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



to feel the migratory instinct leading them back to 

 fresh water. I can therefore only conclude, in the 

 absence of any evidence that would lead us to 

 think otherwise, that thousands of smolts remain 

 in the sea, grow into grilse, and still remain there, 

 to grow into adult salmon. 



MAIDEN SALMON. 



Maiden salmon are those fish which have never 

 been up a river to spawn. In my younger fishing 

 days, I was taught to believe that the term 

 "Maiden" applied only to grilse, and not to adult 

 fish ; this was probably because people believed 

 that all the grilse spawned in some river or another. 

 It has, however, been proved of late that large 

 numbers of them remain in the sea and grow into 

 large fish, therefore the term maiden must apply to a 

 certain number of salmon, as well as to grilse. I 

 myself believe that the so-called salmon of limited 



