i 4 THE SALMON 



salmon which have been taken in weirs as they have 

 swarmed towards the salt water, and then, by taking 

 a part of them with the known mark, at the same 

 place, at their return from the sea, which is usually 

 about six months after — which has inclined many to 

 think that every salmon usually returns to the same 

 river in which it was bred.' 



Here we have an account which could hardly be 

 improved upon now. The rapid growth of the fish, 

 the experiment of marking-although I should hardly 

 think a ' riband or tape ' put on to a samlet's tail would 

 be likely to be found on a grilse on his return - the six 

 months' average stay in salt water, and the homing- 

 instinct of the fish which brings him back to the same 

 river, are all correctly described. The marking of 

 salmon with disks, rings, branding or cuts on the fins 

 or tails, is the foundation of most of our knowledge 

 of their growth and migration. We still wonder at 

 the marvellous instinct which brings them back to 

 their native river, like the swallow to its chimney or 

 the pigeon to its dove-cote, although tacksmen will 

 tell you that they recognise occasional wanderers 

 in the wrong river, asserting that they recognise them 

 as strangers by their shape and appearance ; and 

 although stray fish are sometimes captured in the 

 tideways of rivers like the Thames, which cannot have 



