20 SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 



The Committee ask Mr Wilson of Berwick, 



" Can you inform the Committee whether salmon, bred in a river, 

 and going to the sea, return to the same river, or go to other rivers, 

 as accident may lead them 1 " " I am fully of opinion that every 

 river has a peculiar breed of salmon. They all return to the same 

 river where they were bred." 



" Have you ever known, during any season, the salmon quit the 

 river Tweed, from any accidental cause, and run to any other river ?" 

 " No, never. I have attended a few weeks in the year at Montrose, 

 where there are two rivers, the North and South Esks, and the species 

 of salmon is quite different in these rivers." 



" Do you mean to say that you yourself, from your own knowledge, 

 could distinguish a fish of the North Esk from one of the South Esk?" 

 Yes." 



" Can you describe the distinction?" " One is a large, coarse, 

 scaly fish the other is a small and finer fish." 



In a communication from Sir George Mackenzie, of Coul, to 

 the Chairman, he states, 



" But the principal fact to be ascertained is, whether salmon, bred 

 in a river, uniformly and certainly return to it f That they do is, 

 I think, beyond dispute : not only so, but that each river has its own 

 variety or tribe of fish. I know more than even that : for it is a 

 fact that three varieties of salmon, quite distinct from each other, 

 enter the river Conan, and that two of these belong to its two 

 branches. I one day happened to be angling below the junction of 

 its lower branch, with a party of strangers on a visit to the late 

 Lord Seaforth at Brahan Castle, when, by a singular chance, I killed 

 three salmon, one of each variety, and I showed them to the gentle- 

 men with me. The variety that belongs to the main river is a hand- 

 some fish, being considerably broader, in proportion to its length, than 

 the others ; the salmon of the upper branch, the river Rasay, or 

 Black- water, are more round and full, and are reckoned the best (in 

 quality) of the three varieties. That belonging to the lower branch, 

 the river Orin, is a long lank-looking fish, and is little esteemed 

 when compared with the others." 



The same facts have likewise been stated by other persons 

 many years ago. A gentleman in the vicinity of the Tay, in 

 an Essay* upon Salmon, says, 



" Each river has evidently distinct fish of its own, which with a 



* Prize Essays. 



