26 SALMON FISHING 



Dwelling alternately in fresh water and in salt, the 

 salmon is subtler game. At once he is more attrac- 

 tive and much less easy to attract. 



Compare him with the brown trout, which, being 

 a close relation, he might naturally be expected to 

 resemble in ways of life. The trout is not flighty. 

 He is well content with the place in which he was 

 born. Either he stays in his native stream, or, at 

 the most adventurous, should the stream flow out of 

 or into a lake, migrates thither. He does not seek 

 regions unknown to his ancestors. He is home- 

 staying. He does not wilfully travel beyond the 

 waters that are fresh. Sometimes, it is true, he 

 drops down into the estuary, where the water is 

 brackish, and inconstant in the direction of its flow ; 

 but does he bear himself differently then ? He does 

 not. He is not a changed trout. His coat may 

 have acquired a lighter brilliance ; but still the blood 

 is true, the heart is Highland. He has not ceased to 

 know us or to be affable. He does not reject our flies 

 if they are offered tactfully. His appetite is sound, 

 and his bearing rational. 



The salmon behaves in no such intelligible manner. 

 His is a stand-off disposition. Although we may have 

 played with him by the half-hour in autumn, and 

 that on more than one occasion, he does not recognise 

 us when he has taken up quarters beyond the estuary. 

 He is proud. He ignores advances. We, he seems 

 to say, are puny creatures of the petty land, and he 

 is a freeman of the sea. He will have nothing to do 

 with us. He feasts so lustily that his weight is 



