THE ELUSIVE QUARRY 27 



increasing a pound a month ; yet anything we sub- 

 mit to his consideration, be it lurid minnow, or ruddy 

 prawn, or sea-mouse of the most delicate fabric, he 

 passes in disdain. He is as it were a cosmopolitan 

 personage ; and we are country cousins, to be shown 

 the cold shoulder. When he goes back to the rural 

 regions, which, if he be conventional, is in good time 

 for The Twelfth, his behaviour is hardly less arbi- 

 trary. He resumes what may be called friendly 

 relations, it is true ; but why ? If we are to accept 

 the testimony of those who have studied him 

 scientifically, he does so because his temper, or 

 some other questionable impulse, gets the better of 

 him. It is not, we are told, from honest hunger 

 that he takes any of the dainties we put before him. 

 He is, it seems, in no need of food. He will require 

 none until he has discharged the duty that called 

 him into the stream. During the season in the gay 

 ocean he has been such a riotous liver that he can 

 hold no more. He is too fat to feed. His stomach, 

 we are assured, has struck. He takes what we offer 

 because he is irritated, or curious, or playful. Is not 

 this strange ? The salmon ignores our offerings when 

 he is ravenous, and they attract him when he can eat 

 no more ! 



That is the practically unanimous teaching of our 

 scientific naturalists. Is it to be accepted without 

 question ? 



The subject is entertaining. If in taking a lure 

 the salmon is moved by anger, and not by appetite, 

 our understanding of the sport needs revision. We 



