SALMON 17 



vour the spawn that floats down the river ; and 

 numerous Parrs, so called, are always seen about 

 and in the spawning beds an explanation of which 

 will be found in the sequel. If a strange male inter- 

 feres, the original one makes at him, and chases him 

 with great fury, and in these combats they often 

 inflict great injury on each other. John Crerar once 

 had his attention attracted by a great noise of 

 dashing and plunging, at King's Ford in the Tay, 

 and upon looking round he found it was occasioned 

 by the fighting of two Salmon. After a short con- 

 test one of them set off ; and the water being 

 shallow, Crerar fired at and killed him : he was a 

 male of course, and weighed thirty-two pounds. 

 This occurred in June, 1799. 



When the female has done spawning, she sets off, 

 and leaves the place. The male remains waiting for 

 another female ; and if none comes in twenty-four 

 hours, he goes away in search of another spawning 

 place. In the spawning beds on the Tweed, great 

 injury is done with the leister, and rake hooks ; and 

 the fishermen, who know how to profit by their 

 cruel slaughter, are in the habit of spearing the male 

 which first comes to the female, leaving the latter 

 as a decoy fish, and killing the other males in suc- 

 cession as they arrive to consort with her. By this 

 barbarous and poaching practice all the largest 

 spawning fish are destroyed, to the great destruction 

 of the river. These foul Salmon are bad and un- 

 wholesome food, and used to be sold by the fisher- 

 men for about half a crown the stone, Dutch weight : 

 they were afterwards salted. Trifling as this price 



