588 



STreaSurp cf Natural f^ 



in several other large streams also very con- 

 siderable quantities are taken ; as the Severn, 

 the Mersey, the Thames, the Tyne, the 

 Trent, the Medway, &c. A young Salmon 

 under two pounds in weight is called a 

 Salmon Peel, and a larger one a Grilse. 



In the Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh is an account of repeated ob- 

 servations and experiments by Mr. Shaw of 

 Drumlanrig, clearly proving that the small 

 Salmoupid fish, called the Parr, is, as many 

 naturalists had suspected, the young of the 

 Salmon. 



How far the legitimate province of a 

 writer on zoology may extend, when describ- 

 ing the habits and instincts of animals, we 

 are unable exactly to define, or what bounds 

 are to be prescribed to his fancy (if he hap- 

 pen to possess any) ; but we would rather 

 incur the charge of supererogation, justly 

 founded or not, than forego the strong incli- 

 nation we feel for the adoption of an appo- 

 site passage particularly one so graphic 

 and spirited as the following description of 

 the capture of a salmon, from the vigorous 

 pen of the well-known Christopher North : 

 " She is a salmon, therefore to be viewed 

 she is a salmon, therefore to be won ; but 

 shy, timid, capricious, headstrong, now 

 wrathful, and now full of fear : the cruel 

 artist has hooked her, and in spite of all 

 he struggling, will bring her to the gasp at 

 last." " But the salmon has grown sulky, 

 and must be made to spring to the plunging 

 stone. There, suddenly instinct with new 

 passion, she shoots out of the foam like a bar 

 of silver bullion ; and relapsing into the 

 flood is in another moment at the Tery head of 

 the waterfall I Give her the butt give her 

 the butt or she is gone for ever with the 

 thunder into ten fathoms deep ! Now comes 

 the trial of your tackle and when was 

 Phin ever known to fail at the edge of cliff 

 or cataract ? Her snout is southwards 

 right up to the middle of the hill-born river, 

 as if she would seek its very source where 

 she was spawned. She still swims swift and 

 strong, and the deep, and the line goes 

 steady. There is yet an hour's play in her 

 dorsal fin danger in the flap of her tail 

 and yet may her silver shoulder shatter the 

 gut against a rock." " What another mad 

 leap ! yet another sullen plunge ! Ha, ha, 

 my beauty I Methinks we could fain fond 

 and kiss thy silver side, languidly lying 

 afloat on the foam, as if all further resistance 

 now were vain, and gracefully thou wert 

 surrendering thyself to death ! No she 

 trusts to the last trial of her tail sweetly 

 workest thou, O reel of reels ! and on thy 

 smooth axle spinning sleeps't, even as Milton 

 describes her, like our own worthy planet." 



" The gaff ! the gaff I Into the eddy she 

 sails, sick and slow, and almost with a swirl 



whitening as she nears the sand there 

 she has it stuck right in the shoulder 

 and lies at last in all the glorious length 

 and breadth of beaming beauty, fit prey for 

 giant or demigod angling before the Flood I " 

 Chris. North's Becreaticms. 



With another picturesque morceau, from 

 the ' Days and Nights,' &c. of Mr. Scrope, 

 we will take our leave of this noble sport- 



creating fish. The author is remarking on 

 the difference between fishing for Salmon in 

 the briny tide and in its favourite rivers, 

 and exclaims : " No, the wild main I trust 

 not. Rather let me wander beside the banks 

 of the tranquil streams of the warm South, 

 ' in the yellow meads of Asphodel,' when 

 the young spring comes forth, and all nature 

 is glad ; or if a wilder mood comes over 

 me, let me clamber among the steeps of the 

 North, beneath the shaggy mountains, where 

 the river comes foaming and raging everlast- 

 ingly, wedging its way through the secret 

 glen, whilst the eagle, but dimly seen, cleaves 

 the winds and the clouds, and the dun deer 

 gaze from the mosses above. There, amongst 

 gigantic rocks, and the din of mountain 

 torrents, let me do battle with the lusty 

 Salmon, till I drag him into day, rejoicing 

 in his bulk, voluminous and vast." 



SALMO Rossn ; or Ross's ARCTIC SAL- 

 MON. This species was named by Dr. Rich- 

 ardson in honour of Capt. Sir James Clark 

 Ross, " whose scientific acquirements and 

 contributions to Natural History " are 

 equalled only by the " professional skill, 



SALMO H.OSSII. 



exertions, and perseverance" he exhibited 

 during his various expeditions of discovery 

 in the Arctic seas. The Salmo Rossii is of a 

 more slender form than the common Salmon, 

 with a straighter back, much less arched 

 forehead and shoulders, and slightly larger 

 head. The remarkable length of the under 

 jaw, and the truncated snout, give a peculiar 

 appearance to the fish, and, in conjunction 

 with the nature of the scales (which are 

 small, and each surrounded by a distinct 

 space of smooth skin), and the colour of 

 the skin, readily characterize the species. 

 In regard to colour, the back, top of the 

 head, dorsal and caudal fins, have a hue 

 intermediate between oil-green and hair- 

 brown ; the cheeks are nacry, and the sides 

 pearl-gray, with a blush of lilac and a 

 silvery lustre ; near the lateral line are 

 numerous scattered dots of carmine ; and 

 the colour of the belly varies in different 

 individuals from faded orange to deep red. 

 " The Salmo Rossii is so extremely abun- 

 dant in the sea, near the mouths of the 

 rivers of Boothia. Felix, at certain seasons, 

 that 3378 were obtained at one haul of a 

 small-sized sean. They varied in weight 

 from two to fourteen pounds, and rather 

 exceeded, in the aggregate, six tons. In 

 some the colour of the flesh was of a dark 

 red, in others it was very pale, the dark ones 

 being the firmest and best flavoured." Dr. 

 R. adds, that the malma, or golet of the 

 Russians, which enters the rivers of Kamt- 

 schatka, agrees with the Salmo Rossii in its 

 comparatively slender cylindrical form, 

 scarlet spots on the sides, and the colours of 

 some other parts ; but that the habits of the 



