20 G. KOOPEE — THE SALMON. 



Arrived at the sea, the little fish are met by a fresh array of 

 enemies. The army of gulls is always with them, and it is re- 

 inforced by cormorants, divers, and other sea-birds, besides which 

 shoals of ravenous fish await their arrival, and assist in thinning 

 their ranks. It is wonderful that any should escape ; indeed, but 

 for the extraordinary fecundity of the salmon, they would speedily 

 be annihilated, but such is their prolific nature that a remnant 

 always survives, to return to the spawning beds and keep up the 

 supply. Mr. Frank Buckland calculated that the number of eggs 

 laid by a salmon was about 1000 to the pound weight, a fish of 

 15 lbs. therefore producing 15,000 eggs. 



The food of the smolts during their sojourn in the sea is 

 abundant, consisting chiefly of sand-eels, molluscs, and marine 

 insects. They increase accordingly very rapidly in size, and in 

 three or four months the fish that came down five or six ounces in 

 weight returns to the river from which he came, a grilse of from 

 foiu' to six pounds. 



The grilse is the fifth stage of the salmon's existence. Unless 

 accidentally prevented, the grilse always returns to his native 

 river, and, after spending the autumn and winter at home, and 

 providing for the continuance of the family by spawning, as already 

 described, he returns as a kelt — the sixth stage — to the sea in the 

 following year, reappearing the next year as a salmon of at least 

 ten or twelve pounds weight — the seventh and last stage. 



Such is a short history of the salmon, from ' ' the cradle to the 

 grave," for his life, if he escape the manifold dangers to which he is 

 exposed, is but a repetition of what I have stated. I should have 

 mentioned that, after spawning, the fish speedily recovers his 

 colour, and to a great extent his condition ; the baggitt at once 

 loses her dark complexion, the kipper discards his hideous livery, 

 his great beak is rapidly absorbed, his sides become silvery, and 

 his back assumes a dark bluish tinge. 



After spawning, the fish are called kelts, whether they are male 

 or female ; there is little difference in their appearance. Both are 

 gifted with an inordinate appetite, and, as the river furnishes an 

 abundance of food, they speedily assume very syrhmetrical pro- 

 portions, and are really, at least the majority of them, extremely 

 handsome fish — in fact, excepting to a practised eye it is difficult 

 to distinguish between a well-mended kelt and a clean fish. There 

 is a prejudice against them as food, and, as I said, the law requires 

 that, when caught they shall be put back into the liver — a great 

 mistake, I think. Besides that they are really wholesome, if not 

 dainty food, they are greatly appreciated by fishermen and others 

 to whom they may be given. Moreover, at least nine out of ten 

 that have been caught with a fly or spinning-tackle die from 

 exhaustion, having been pulled about for an hour or more in the 

 water before they were landed, for they are very strong, and they 

 fight to the last. They are, also, too generally landed with the 

 help of a gaff. 



Mr. Pennell describes the kelt as "unfit for food, almost 



