THE SALMON. 245 



Without doubt, certain facts have been ascertained, 

 particularly as to different phases this fish goes through in 

 early life, from the parr to the smolt and grilse state, and 

 so to the mature salmon, analogous to the baby, boy, youth, 

 and man state in the human subject. But it is only neces- 

 sary to read Mr. Willis Bund's "Salmon Problems" to 

 find out how very little we know of its life. 



The salmon, both in its smolt and its mature state, has 

 many enemies lying in wait for it in the estuaries of the 

 rivers viz., the seals, the porpoises, the grampus, the coal- 

 fish, &c., whilst the otter watches for it in the fresh water. 

 Even some birds will attack this fish. The great black- 

 backed gull, Lams marmuSj is known by the name of the 

 salmon-gull amongst the fishermen of the lower part of the 

 Severn, where, should a salmon be stranded on the sand, 

 as sometimes is the case from the rapid fall of the water, 

 these birds at once attack it, pick out its eyes, and soon 

 tear it to pieces with their strong and powerful bills. Even 

 the heron it must be out of wantonness will at times 

 attack a salmon. We found a dead salmon, 19 Ibs. in 

 weight, evidently killed by a stroke of the sharp-pointed 

 bill of this bird, which had pierced the brain. 



Having escaped all these enemies man included the 

 salmon arrives at the upper waters for the purpose of 

 spawning. The male, or cock fish, when that period ar- 

 rives, some time between October and December, entirely 

 changes his appearance ; he becomes what the fishermen 

 call a red fish, and when caught the salmon-fisher exclaims, 

 " What an ugly brute ! " But is he so ? He may be ugly 

 in the fisherman's sense of beauty in a fish, but he is not 

 so to his lady. Why has he put on this change from the 

 blue silvery-steel appearance of his back and the trans- 

 parent whiteness of his sides, with a sheen of iridescence, 

 to the olive-greenish hue of the upper part, and the red- 

 scarlet colour of the sides and yellowish-red belly, with 

 the beautiful-shaped head of his early days transformed 

 into prolonged jaws and a great beak ? Because he is 

 able evidently to captivate his love by his beautiful clothes 

 according to her ideas. Chacun a son gout. 



