238 IKTRODUCXrON TO ZOOLOGY. 



feet or more in height above the surface of the water. It is 

 said that at the falls of Kilmorae, in Inverness-shire, the 

 Frazers of Lovat, the lords of the manor, caused this power to 

 be occasionally exhibited in a singular manner for the enter- 

 tainment of their guests. On a flat rock at the south side of 

 the fall, and close to the edge of the water, a kettle was kept 

 boiling, and the company waited until a Salmon fell into the 

 kettle and was cooked in their presence.* 



We never witnessed the singular spectacle thus recorded, 

 but can imagine nothing in its way more attractive than the 

 drawing of the nets at the salmon fisher\" called the Cranagh, 

 on the Lower Bann, about a mile below the town of Coleraine. 

 As the fishermen pull the net nearer to the shore, the struggles 

 of the fishes in their efforts to escape, and now and then the 

 vigorous leap which sets a captive free, are in the highest 

 degree exciting. During two daj's which we spent there in 

 June, 1823, the value of the fish taken, estimated at one 

 shilling per lb., exceeded £400. We were informed by a re- 

 lative, who had at that time the care of the fishery, that on 

 the 5th of July, 1824, four hundred Salmon were taken at one 

 "haul," and three bun ch-ed and fifty at the next. The entire 

 weight of the fish captured that day amounted to two tons. 



The fish are packed in ice, and are thus brought to market 

 in good condition. But several years ago, when this practice 

 was unknown there, it is said that the enormous number of 

 1,500 Salmon were taken at a single pull, and sold in Coleraine 

 and the neighbourhood for three farthings per pound. 



It was formerly supposed that the young Salmon fry de- 

 scended to the sea the same season they escaped from the 

 egg, and returned later in the year, their growth having been 

 extremely rapid. But by a number of experiments and 

 observations, made with great care, and ingenioush- varied, 

 this has been proved by Mr. John Shaw not to be the case.t 

 The young fry does not go down to the sea until after it has 

 completed its second year, nor does it until then assume what 

 Mr. Shaw terms its migratory dress. 



What, then, is its appearance during the earlier period of 

 its existence ? From the time it is one inch in length it has 

 — in common with different species of Trout — the lateral 

 markinsfs that have been considered as characteristic of the 



* Mudie's British Naturalist. 



t Transactions of Royal Society, Edinburgh, 1810. 



I 



