SALMON -FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 115 



" Do you mean that they are going down from their own natural 

 impulse, or from being carried down with the tide ? " " They are 

 going down from their own natural impulse with the tide." 



" You mean to say that these fish are seeking to get to the sea ? " 

 " Yes, seeking down to get to the sea." 



" You have no doubt that such is the fact ? " " I am certain it 

 is the fact." 



Had Mr Kennedy known anything of the principles of the 

 migratory system, he could never have supposed that, after the 

 salmon had left their migratory abode in the ocean, and reached 

 the mouths of the rivers, they would, without any apparent 

 cause, turn back again, any more than a flock of lapwings or 

 woodcocks would do so after having reached our shores, and 

 would not have asked an ignorant man such ridiculous ques- 

 tions ; which, besides, common sense might have showed him 

 it was impossible the witness could know or answer ; for what 

 means could the witness, or any man, have of discovering 

 whether the fish went down from their own natural impulse, 

 with the tide ; or, in short, whether they went down at all, 

 since he could not see their movements under water even in 

 the space of a hundred yards, much less over the whole ex- 

 panse of the frith ? And if the witness had been a sensible 

 man, he would have answered," Sir, how do you suppose 

 that I could trace the motions of the salmon that enter a 

 frith, or know their^ intentions ? we sometimes find them in 

 the ebb-traps of our engines, but farther than that I cannot 

 say ; if you want to know more, you must ask a seal, or some 

 other marine animal, who sees what passes under water, and 

 who alone can tell you." Mr Kennedy, however, continues, 



" You do not consider that all the fish that are caught by stake- 

 nets placed at the mouth of an estuary or river, are fish which would 

 have gone into the river ? " " No." 



As if it were possible, as we have just said, for the witness to 

 know anything about the matter. The Committee afterwards 

 ask the witness, 



" What do you conceive to be the object which induces salmon to 

 visit the rivers at the early periods of the season 1 " 



Mr Kennedy might have as well asked him what he con- 



