NATURAL HISTORY u 



being discovered in the stomachs of salmon taken in 

 fresh water, I should have thought that the experience 

 of the angler was conclusive on this subject ; granting 

 that some other cause than the gratification of the 

 appetite may be assigned for Salmo salar's predilection 

 for a ' Jock Scott 'or a' Blue Doctor,' as to which I 

 have something to say later on, surely the fact that he is 

 often caught with worms, minnows, dace, prawns and 

 such natural baits, is proof positive that he is not averse 

 to an occasional relish when in his fresh-water 

 habitation. Some go so far as to advocate the 

 destruction of kelts on the ground of the mischief 

 their ravenous appetites do to the young fry, and 

 although I have no desire to keep or eat anything so 

 nasty, I doubt if much advantage results from rod 

 fishers being compelled to put them back. 



Walton next states quite correctly that ' though 

 they make very hard shift to get out of fresh water 

 into the sea, yet they make harder shifts to get out of 

 the salt into the fresh waters to spawn or possess the 

 pleasures that they have formerly found in them.' 

 He describes how they force themselves over flood- 

 gates, weirs, or stops in the water, to a height above 

 common belief, and quotes Gunn as speaking of such 

 places as 'being above eight feet high above water.' 

 This estimate of eight feet as the extreme height of a 



