272 ROD AND RIVER 



favourable conditions ; but thick, muddy water 

 and such-like may serve to reduce it to from a 

 mile to a mile and a half per hour. A curious 

 instance is quoted of the high rate of speed at 

 which a salmon can travel in the sea, which is as 

 follows : 



Mr. Alexander Mitchell, formerly the superin- 

 tendent of the Tweed water-bailiffs, states that he 

 marked some bull-trout and turned them down in 

 the Whitadder, below New Mills, the marks con- 

 sisting of indiarubber rings placed above the tail, 

 and stamped with the word Tweed and the year. 

 One of these was numbered 192, and was marked 

 on March 29. On April 2 (four days later) it 

 was caught in a net by a Mr. Alder, at Winterton, 

 near Yarmouth. He states that it is, he believes, 

 preserved in the local museum. 



Judging from my own experience and that of 

 others, more salmon ascend the rivers during the 

 spring and autumn than at other seasons. The 

 spring fish are always the heaviest, and although 

 salmon, as has been shown, ascend the river 

 at all seasons, they prefer to make the upward 

 journey in water which is not too cold. Some 

 rivers are earlier than others. I conclude that it 

 is by reason of the temperature being higher in 

 these waters. It is a somewhat curious fact that 

 although the Test and the Hampshire Avon run 

 nearly parallel to each other, and at no very great 



