THE SALMON 



CHAPTER I 



NATURAL HISTORY 



' There is a river in Macedon,' says Fluellen in 

 ' Henry V.,' ' and there is, moreover, a river in Mon- 

 mouth ; it is called Wye at Monmouth, but it is out 

 of my prains what is the name of the other river ; but 

 'tis all one, and there is salmons in both.' I had 

 intended to introduce this quotation as a proof that 

 Shakespeare, or rather Fluellen, did not know every- 

 thing, but, curiously enough, the very first page of that 

 mine of information Day's ' Salmonidae of Great 

 Britain and Ireland' mentions that ^Elian, who 

 flourished about 180 a.d., alludes to a spotted fish in 

 Macedonia that in his days was captured by means 

 of an artificial fly, the mode of manufacturing which 

 he details Probably, however, this fish was a trout, 



B 



