NATURAL HISTORY 15 



bred there, as salmon have long since disappeared 

 entirely from their main streams. 



Walton next tells us that the he-salmon is 

 ' usually bigger than the spawner ; that he is more 

 kipper and less able to endure a winter in the fresh 

 water than she is, yet she is, at that time of looking 

 less kipper and better, as watery and as bad meat.' 

 All who have caught autumn fish will confirm this 

 account. The kipper, with his ungainly shape, his 

 dark red marking, and his great beak, is ugly enough 

 to frighten his captor when lifted out of the water, 

 but although he is a bit soft to eat, he does not make 

 bad cutlets when fried ; while the hen fish, with her 

 deceptive appearance of being in good condition, for 

 all her silvery sides and ordinary shape, is far more 

 watery, tasteless, and insipid. 



Walton concludes his observations on salmon by 

 noticing the variations of seasons in different rivers, 

 by telling you to observe that he does not stay long 

 in one place, ' but covets still to go nearer the 

 spring-head/ that he does not as the trout and many 

 other fish, lie near the water-side, or bank, or roots 

 of trees, but swims in the deep or broad parts of the 

 water, and usually in the middle or near the ground. 

 And he then proceeds to tell you how to catch him. 

 Sometimes or seldom he will bite at a minnow, not 



