7 
The young of the salmon, on their way down to the 
sea, are preyed on by many enemies. Sea-gulls and 
herons devour them in large quantities. When they reach 
the mouth of the river, there are millions of “podlies” 
(Merlangus carbonarius) watching for them. The Tweed 
Commissioners, to lessen the slaughter, employ boats and 
nets to catch these “podlies.” The last return of which I 
have a note represents 6040 caught in May and June. 
Many of these creatures, when examined, were found with 
the remains of eight or ten smolts in their stomachs. 
The migration of Tweed salmon has been to some 
extent investigated by the Commissioners. With the view 
of ascertaining the changes of size and shape in future 
stages of life, we for many years were in the practice of 
catching fish of all kinds, and putting a silver wire into the 
dorsal fin, with a special number stamped on it. When any 
of these wired fish were caught, the wire was sent to our 
Superintendent, with a description of the fish, by length and 
weight, and of the place where caught. In this way we 
had reported to us cases of Tweed salmon caught in the 
Firth of Forth, on the coast of Aberdeen, and in the rivers 
Don and Dee of that county. Along the coast of England 
to the south of the Tweed, we had cases reported to us 
from Holy Island, from the Tyne, from Shields, and even 
from Yarmouth. This last case, on account of the distance 
travelled, is especially interesting, the wire having been 
fastened to a bull-trout caught in the Whitadder, a tribu- 
tary of the Tweed, on the 29th of March, 1852, and the fish 
having been caught in a net at Winterton, near Yarmouth, 
on the 2nd of April; it had travelled, therefore, nearly 300 
miles in four days. Another fish, marked in the Whitadder 
on 10th March, 1880, was caught at Yarmouth on 5th May, - 
1880 (see Appendix B, page 38). 
