24 THE SALMON 



a contest in which the fish is matched against the 

 angler with a fair chance for life and liberty. We 

 may reverse Macaulay's famous saying about the 

 Puritans' objection to bear-baiting, and submit with 

 confidence that we love fishing not because it gives 

 pain to the salmon, but because it gives pleasure, 

 health, recreation and excitement to its votaries. 



So prolific are the salmon that were it not for the 

 waste caused by the innumerable enemies of the 

 eggs, the fry, and the mature fish, the offspring of a 

 single baggit hen would suffice to stock a good-sized 

 river. 



It is very easy to breed these fish artificially ; 

 and even to produce hybrids, which are occasionally 

 fertile, between the various species of salmonidoe ; 

 even the non-migratory Salmo fario interbreeding 

 with the anadromous Salmo salar and Salmo trutta, 

 a fact alluded to by Kingsley in his delightful 

 ' Water-babies,' where the student of fish-lore may 

 find much keen and shrewd information upon the 

 subject conveyed in a humorous form. Various 

 attempts have been made to introduce them into the 

 Antipodes by sending over the fecundated ova, but 

 hitherto without success, although the introduction 

 of the common trout into those regions is a most 

 successful instance of acclimatisation. All the 



