146 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
this period it is a “parr.” Just before migrating it 
changes its golden and brown coat for a silver one, and 
becomes a “smolt,” at which time it weighs from one to 
two ounces. The smolt returns from the sea a “ grilse,” 
commonly in from five to ten weeks, but sometimes 
more, and having increased in weight from two to ten 
pounds. Sometimes, however, the smolt does not come 
back as a grilse, but returns in the spring of the following 
year as a small Salmon.* 
The smolt, whether it comes back in the grilse or 
Salmon state, and the mature Salmon also, spawn 
usually about November or December, and go back 
to the sea as a spent-fish, or “kelts,” in February or 
March; ordinarily returning during the following four 
or five months as “clean” fish, and increased in weight 
from seven to ten pounds. 
Shortly before spawning, and whilst returning to the 
sea as “kelts,” Salmon are considered “ foul fish’—unfit 
for food—and their capture is then illegal. “ Foul fish” 
before spawning are, if males, termed “red fish,” from 
the orange-coloured stripes with which their gill-covers 
are marked, and the golden orange tint of the body; the 
females are darker in colour and are called “ black fish.” 
After spawning the males are called “ Kippers,” and the 
* The circumstance of the non-return of the Smolt in all cases during 
the first year, and the theory of the spawning of Salmon in alternate 
years, is now very generally received amongst naturalists. It was first 
propounded by the author in the Times in 1863, and subsequently in 
the ‘‘ Angler-Naturalist,” published during the same year. 
