86 SALMON FISHING 



it was that attracted one on the occasion of the 

 rise immediately preceding that which set his rod 

 a-quiver. In only a very few instances, that is to 

 say, could he speak with certitude about the intent 

 with which the salmon rose. Judicially considered, 

 the entertaining case which we have been examining 

 is a remarkable evidence of how little, apart from 

 abstract theory, there is to be said for the notion 

 that " gustatory intent " is as a rule not among the 

 impulses at the bidding of which salmon seize a lure. 

 It leaves us perfectly free to imagine it possible that 

 the desire for food, or at least an assumed desire, 

 is as often as any other feeling the motive of a 

 salmon's action. 



Among sportsmen who like their craft to be 

 scientific it is not only Sir Herbert Maxwell who 

 issues indeterminate reasoning. There is Dr. Barton 

 also. After the imposing array of authoritative 

 citations in favour of the theory that salmon fast 

 when in fresh water, he remarks that "practical 

 sportsmen know well enough that it is only after 

 fatigue that salmon can be at all tempted, and that 

 the appetite only remains a few hours or days at 

 most after a fish has moved up into a new pool." 

 This reads as if Dr. Barton were admitting an insig- 

 nificant exception and triumphantly establishing his 

 theory of a general rule. The implications of his 

 statement are that salmon do not move about very 

 much ; that when they find a comfortable pool they 

 tend to tarry ; and that, flitting infrequently, being 

 fatigued only on rare occasions, it is only on 



