SALMON-FISHERY OP SCOTLAND. 13 



luminaries of the Scottish bar, distinguished for his grave elo- 

 quence, declared, that if all the rivers in the kingdom were 

 blocked up, salmon would become more plentiful than ever, as 

 they would then IOQ forced to spawn in. the sea. This gentle- 

 man, who is no naturalist, will make an excellent judge in 

 fishing cases. 



Even in rivers salmon are never known to deposit their 

 spawn in deep, or in still water, or in lakes, but on fords, where 

 the stream runs rapidly. Sir H. Davy supposed the reason for 

 this to be, that the water is there more saturated with fixed air, 

 but the bottle experiment shows that this is not the case. The 

 true reason may be traced to the spawning operations them- 

 selves, in which the exertions of the spawners are greatly 

 assisted by the action of the water in streams ; they commence 

 their operations at the lower extremity, shedding the ova and 

 milt as they proceed, so that in working upwards, the gravel, 

 thus stirred, is carried down by the strength of the current, and 

 covers the spawn as it is deposited. In still water this would 

 not be the case ; nor, unaided by the current, or action of the 

 water, could the fish make the necessary furrows ; their in- 

 stincts, therefore, which in all animals are perfect, point out to 

 them the proper place for their operations. The process of 

 spawning has* been so often described, that it is useless to 

 repeat it. A late writer has represented it as resembling that 

 of a hen digging a hole in the earth or sand with her wings, 

 the spawners lying on their sides, making the furrows, or re- 

 moving the gravel by a quick jerk and curvature of their 

 bodies, principally with the 'fins and tail. At this period they 

 are always accompanied by a horde of river trouts, who often 

 are very alert in picking up the ova as they drop, and the male 

 spawner is every now and then seen chasing them away. 

 Theorists, or closet salmon-fishers, and even stake-net fishers, 

 as Mr Halliday, who, in regard to the true nature of the salmon- 

 fishery, are little better than closet-fishers, tell us that, as there 

 are from 16,000 to 18,000 ova in a female salmon, six or eight 

 pair of fish would be sufficient to stock the Tay. What be- 

 comes, says Mr Halliday, in the committee, of all these ova ? 

 Poor simple soul ! let him ask the river trouts, and eels, and 



