GRILSE 39 



will call in question. If the grilse had entered the 

 river Dee in any great numbers, the seine nets would 

 have found them. With regard further to the ques- 

 tion whether or not all the grilse come into our 

 rivers, I beg leave, with the recognised privilege of 

 a Scotsman, to answer this question by asking 

 another, viz.. What is a small spring fish? If all 

 grilse enter our rivers, how is it possible that small 

 spring salmon of 4, 6, or 9 lb. weight can be found 

 in our rivers just when grilse have finished spawning 

 and are descending again to the sea ? These small 

 spring fish cannot have spawned at an earlier stage. 

 If they had been up rivers on a previous occasion 

 they would have been very small grilse, and as kelts 

 would have been lighter than any kelts to be found. 

 But if I may anticipate a little here, I would say that 

 a study of their scales shows that they have not 

 spawned. Only two hypotheses are possible — 



(1) That they have previously ascended fresh 

 water, but have returned to the sea without 

 spawning. 



(2) That they have never been into fresh water 

 since they left it as smolts, but have passed their 

 grilse stage in the sea. 



With regard to the first, I would say that while 

 it is certainly true that some fish ascend rivers and 

 again drop back, there is no evidence to show that in 

 so dropping back any fish enter the sea for a renewed 

 period of feeding, but only through force of floods, 

 intense cold, injury or disease, or some more or less 

 temporary cause. Further, we have for several 

 winters carried on systematic netting operations for 



