nf n Ifllmntr, 



Chapter I, 



|HE recollections of my early life are few 

 and somewhat indefinite. 



Probably they would be still more so but for the 

 faculty with which our tribe are endowed ; a faculty 

 peculiar to most migratory beings, and, perhaps, 

 in none more powerfully developed than in the 

 Salmo salar ; that faculty of early recollection, 

 which both prompts and facilitates our constant 

 return to the scenes of our birth and infancy. 



My first reminiscence is that of floating about 

 in a shallow part of the river Dee, which at that 

 spot ran without a ripple over a broad gravel bed, 

 every pebble of which seemed to share in the 

 searching rays of the unshadowed sun. I very 

 well recollect experiencing a negative sense of 

 enjoyment in the first use of my fins ; not 

 absolutely seeking motion, but just hovering 

 about and playing with the stream ; sometimes 



B 



