80 TREATISE ON FLY-FISHING. 



cataracts in the course of their journey upwards. 

 Mr. Yarrell places their power of leaping at ten 

 or twelve feet perpendicularly, but I do not think 

 I ever saw one spring out of the water above five 

 or six feet. Large fish can spring much higher 

 than small ones ;. but their powers are limited or 

 augmented, according to the depth of water they 

 spring from. They rise rapidly from the bottom 

 of the water to the surface, by means of rowing 

 and sculling, as it were, with their fins and tails ; 

 and this powerful impetus bears them upwards in 

 the air, on the same principle that a few tugs of 

 the oar make a boat shoot onwards, after one has 

 ceased to row. 



The fish pass every practicable obstruction till 

 they arrive at the spawning ground ; some early, 

 some late in the season. The principal spawning 

 months are December, January, and February ; 

 but in some rivers the season is much earlier. 



Salmon are led by instinct to select such places 

 for depositing their spawn, as are least likely to 



