158 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



CHAPTER XV 



THE GREAT PROBLEM SOLVED AT LAST BY J. D. P. — 

 S.^LMON KELTS ARE BOGIES — MY SAILOR GILLIE 



'Do salmon feed in fresh water?' has been a too 

 much discussed question these forty years in spite 

 of the fact that more than one learned professor has 

 declared that their doing so is impossible. At last the 

 vexed question is settled and ever\'body proved 

 almost right. J. D. P. in The Field says : 'Examine 

 a miature salmon's mouth, and his teeth will be found 

 to be placed in the apex of each jaw. He has few 

 back teeth, but is furnished with bony jaws, providing 

 a powerful crushing apparatus. The front teeth are 

 used solely in seizmg his pre^', as evidenced by the 

 salmon's method of taking a minnow from behind and 

 never with the side dash of the trout. Once secured, 

 his prey is passed under the crushing apparatus, 

 whereby he extracts all the juices and goodness from 

 his food. The solid and now worthless material are 

 rejected.' So let it be that they do and they do not. 

 I will forget, with what haste I can, the hooks and 

 wonns that in boyhood's days I dug from depths much 

 below 'the crushing apparatus,' that peace may reign. 

 The fact remains that there are days, oft-recurring days, 

 when the fish refuse the juices of the sweetest morsel, 

 and this is testified to by Ronald himself, who told her 

 ladyship from Taymouth Castle when fishing with 

 him : 'There are times when they'll be taking maist 

 anything, and ither times they wouldna tak, they 

 wouldna tak — dang it ! they wouldna tak your 

 ladyship.' 



Who can give us an unfaihng sign by which we 



