GRILSE ' 41 



evidence is the recapture of small Tay " springers " 

 bearing in their dorsal fins the silver wire loops dis- 

 tinctive of the smolts marked in the Tay in 1905. 

 The first of these fish was taken on February 18, a 

 9 lb. small salmon ; the second on the following day, 

 8 lb. ; the third on February 21, a 9 lb. fish. Others 

 followed through spring and summer until, in 

 August, after a stay in the sea of some twenty- 

 seven months, fish of 18 and 27 lb. were captured. 

 The ascent of fresh water is for the first time. The 

 total number of those wired spring and summer fish 

 was considerably less than the number of the grilse. 



Some of the light weights amongst these clean 

 fish are extremely like grilse, and this is to be ex- 

 pected, since they are only just passing into the more 

 advanced appearance, or the " gilling" appearance, as 

 it would be termed by Mr. Willis Bund. The grilse, 

 therefore, which w^e find spawning in our rivers are 

 only a proportion of the fish of their own age which 

 left the rivers as smolts (and which survived the 

 dangers of the deep). It may be this proportion 

 varies considerably in difi^erent years owing to the 

 greater or less inducement to remain in the sea, and 

 that this may be a factor in determining good and bad 

 grilse years, as much as the actual number of smolts 

 which descended — the factor usually regarded. 



The state of nourishment, the condition of grilse 

 entering rivers, certainly varies in different years. 

 I have already noted that 1902 was a good grilse 

 year ; it was good both in the matter of numbers 

 and the actual condition of the fish. Conversely, 

 1903 was a poor grilse year, the run not only being 



