RESULTS OF SALMON MARKING 59 



now oxidised, so as to render them less conspicuous 

 to other fish. 



Four reports on the Scottish results have now 

 been published (20th, 22nd, 24th, and 25th Ee- 

 ports, Part II.), and the records of over three 

 hundred recaptures discussed. In Ireland two 

 reports have appeared (Keport for 1901, Part II., 

 and Fisheries, Ireland, Sci. Invest., 1904, YII. 

 [1906]), and in England one short report has been 

 published (Agric. and Fisheries for 1905, Salmon 

 Acts, &c.). We have now, therefore, got a con- 

 siderable number of records with which we can 

 deal respecting the movements and increase of 

 weight and length of the salmon of our country, 

 and when we combine the results from the separate 

 countries we are in a position to view the salmon's 

 life with some breadth of horizon. 



The most outstanding feature is the demonstration 

 of what has been called the divided migration of 

 the salmon — the habit of the fish to remain short 

 periods and long periods m the sea. A shrewd fore- 

 cast of this dual habit as seen amongst Tay fish was 

 made by Mr. John Dickson, for many years agent 

 for the Tay Fishery Proprietors, and M^ho wr.ote on 

 divided migration of the salmon as early as 1860 

 in the Perthshire Courier, and who has ever since 

 continued to assert that this habit when properly 

 understood will be found to completely explain the 

 presence of early and of late fish in Scottish rivers. 

 It has always been sufiiciently clear to the observant 

 that all salmon are not annual spawners. The mere 

 fact that when fish are spawning, and when spent 



