POLYGAMOUS HABITS OP THE HE-FISH. 197 



period, when they enter the river in shoals of some 

 magnitude, it is not uncommon to find five-sixths of the 

 lot fish of this description. 



I hold then as inaccurate the assertion, that salmon 

 regularly pair off, in the manner of partridges or grouse. 

 They certainly pair, but it is not as they are described 

 or understood by naturalists to do, one milter serving 

 merely its appropriate spawner. On the contrary, a 

 single male fish is adapted to perform the requisite office 

 to several females j in fact is polygamous. I once 

 witnessed, in a shallow pool in the Blackwater, near 

 Contin, Ross-shire, a collection of above fifty fish, among 

 which were only three males, and these, notwithstand- 

 ing the immense disproportion in point of numbers, 

 so jealously inclined towards each other, as to prefer 

 fighting furiously among themselves, to engaging in 

 acts of duty and affection towards the other sex. It 

 appeared, in fact, as if one of the trio wished to obtain 

 possession of the whole harem. With regard to the 

 females, on this occasion, they were generally inert, 

 showing no disposition to leave the exact spot they 

 severally hung over, and evidently, I judged, engaged, 

 many of them, in the act of spawning, and that without 

 the slightest measure of assistance from any of the 

 milters. 



On general occasions, however, when the fish are 

 what is termed paired, the female, while on the redd, is 

 commonly watched at a short distance off by the milter; 

 nor is any attempt made by him to disturb her during 

 the continuance of the operation, which lasts sometimes 

 two or three days. All this period, he hovers faithfully 

 in her rear, and should another male fish, or even 

 common trout, approach the redd, assails it with jealous 

 fury. I once witnessed an instance of this from the 



