MIGRATION AND HYBERNATION. 145 



of eels was estimated at a minimum of 1650 

 tons, with a total value of £130,000." It is 

 believed that the adult eel does not return to 

 the river, but dies soon after having deposited 

 its eggs, or their equivalent. 



The young salmon on their way down to the 

 sea are equally subjected to persecution, though 

 only from their natural enemies. These young 

 fish, it should be remarked, for the first year of 

 their existence, at least, are known as " parr." 

 At the end of this first year they take on the 

 brilliant silveryness and characteristic marking 

 of the adult form, and are known as " smolt." 

 " Perhaps," says Mr Rooper, " with a wish to 

 exhibit himself in his new and beautiful apparel, 

 [he] evinces a daily increasing restlessness and 

 desire to quit his home. With the first floods 

 in May myriads of these lovely little fishes start 

 on their downward journey toward the sea. It 

 is a beautiful sight to watch their movements 

 when descending ; and for many days the river 

 teems with them, not a square foot of water 

 being without one where the stream is at all 

 rapid. As fry the smolts were exposed to many 

 dangers, but they were nothing to those which 

 beset them as parrs, on their journey towards 

 the sea. Their enemies are legion. Trout and 

 pike devour them, gulls swoop down and swallow 

 them wholesale, herons standing mid-leg deep in 

 the water pick them out as they pass, and even 

 their own kindred devour them without scruple. 

 Unluckily, too, for them, a certain number of 

 great hungry kelts (as the fish are called after 

 spawning) having recovered to a great extent 

 K 



