8o The Natural History of the Salmon. 



" Never saw a salmon without milt or roe. Never 

 saw what is called a bull trout in the Lochy or 

 Spean." 



Thus it may be considered most of the spring 

 fish are the early spawners of the previous 

 year (October and November), and having gone 

 down to the sea, return as soon as invigorated, 

 to the rivers in which they have been bred, and 

 there remain until the spawning season recom- 

 mences. 



Amongst the numerous errors of the early writers 

 on the salmon, that of Izaak Walton, as regards 

 the fatness of the salmon, is very remarkable, the 

 reverse being the fact. He says : "And it is to be 

 observed that though the salmon grow big in the 

 sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh rivers, and it 

 is to be observed that the farther they get from the 

 sea they be both fatter and better." We have only 

 to compare the beautiful silver sides and plump 

 shape of a male salmon fresh-run from the sea with 

 the harlequined big-beaked, big-headed, lean, lanky 

 fish which has got up as far as he can in the 

 autumn months. I wonder if Walton ever saw one 

 of these fish, and what he thought it was } These 

 colours, which are so varied and so really beau- 

 tiful in the male salmon before spawning time, 

 are no doubt connected with generative process, 

 and are put on as a wedding garment, just as 



