SALMON 227 



very words, are the adventures of my friend the fifty-four- 

 pounder, who by the way was a male fish. 



" My earliest recollections are of a rocky pool in the Dee, 

 near Balmoral, where I saw many of my relations devoured by 

 herons, big trout, and gulls, and it was only owing to our extra 

 caution in taking advantage of the shelter offered by every 

 large stone that I, with many others, escaped a similar fate. 



" In addition to the enemies already enumerated, we learnt 

 from the red deer, the grouse, and the rabbits, that as we grew 

 older we should experience relendess hostility from the big, 

 upright, two-legged creatures we sometimes saw striding along 

 the banks of our pool. As our friends spoke of them with 

 bated breath, whilst disappearing at the sound of their voices, so 

 likewise we also quickly learnt to dread these creatures, while 

 having no word in our own language by which to describe 

 them, we adopted the one used by our hairy, furred, and 

 feathered friends, and called them ' Foes.' For a considerable 

 time we were under the impression that the male Foes covered 

 up their legs, while the females of the species only wrapped 

 theirs round with cloth ; this we were led to suppose was the 

 fact by noticing the more brilliant colours, together with the 

 shapelier forms, disported by the Foes whose legs were hidden, 

 so we jumped to the conclusion that, like the male of the 

 pheasant, the blackcock, and the grouse, the males of the 

 Foes also carried the brightest plumage with the comeliest 

 figures. Observation, assisted by further discussions with our 

 friends on the bank, eventually taught us our surmise was 

 incorrect, and that amongst the Foes the laws which govern 

 many of the birds and the beasts are exactly reversed. 



" You see, fish start in life under one great disadvantage, for 

 whereas deer, grouse and bunnies have the benefit of parental 

 care and advice, we have to do without either the one or the 

 other, and it is, perhaps, to compensate us for this loss that 

 we are kept so small for so long. Of course, I am not capable 

 of measuring time exactly in the same way as the Foes do, but 



