164 SMOLT IN SALT WATER 



development of the smolt and of its migration to the 

 sea. 



We will now follow the smolt of the first year as he 

 darts with a multitude of his fellows from the river 

 into the sea. 



He has at this time all the well-known character- 

 istics of the salmon both in appearance and habits, 

 and he is yet but a little fellow who has to depend 

 entirely on his own resources during his three to five 

 months' stay in salt water. Luckily for him he is full 

 of life and vigour, and his river training has given 

 him wonderful speed and quickness, while his good 

 fairy, Instinct, is always with him. 



THE SMOLT IN SALT WATER 



Nothing is definitely known as to the wanderings 

 of the smolt after reaching the sea, either as to the 

 period which elapses before he leaves the company 

 of his fellow-smolts, or of the distances to which his 

 travels thereafter extend. What we do know is that 

 the chemical properties of the salt water are most 

 favourable; that his enemies are numerous and 

 voracious, and that his food is plentiful and wonderfully 

 nourishing, and his appetite abnormal ; that, escaping 

 from the ogres of the wonderland in which he travels, 

 he increases in size and strength in a most remarkable 

 manner ; and that after satisfying his feeding instincts 

 and stuffing to repletion, he is called by his fairy 

 godmother, and guided amid the hills and valleys, 



