206 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



injured in many ways, and to become the prey of countless 

 enemies among the fish and fowl tribe. They are now 

 called parr, and are about two inches long, the body fur- 

 nished with transverse bars. By the end of May they are 

 from three to four inches long, feed greedily on every living 

 thing which may be of a size to swallow, and are amongst 

 the greatest pests that the trout fisher encounters rising at 

 his fly, hooking themselves, and having to be thrown back 

 again time after time, until the angler has to give up in 

 disgust. By autumn they have reached a length of five or 

 six inches, and remaining in the river all winter, by the fol- 

 lowing April assume a more elegant form-and brighter colour, 

 and are called smolts. Until they have made this change of 

 costume they would not be able to live in the salt water. 

 They now, as smolts, collect in shoals of from fifty to sixty, 

 and, assisted by the spring floods, make for the sea. They 

 generally rest awhile in the brackish water at the mouth of 

 the river, in order that they may acclimatise themselves (so 

 to speak) ; after which they depart into the salt water, 

 where they, finding nutritive and richer food, soon arive at 

 a very respectable size and weight. In July and August 

 they commence to return to their native rivers, and are now 

 known as grilse or peel. They in turn deposit their spawn, 

 return in the following spring to the sea, and are sub- 

 sequently known as salmon. The tails get more of a 

 square form, their scales hard and not so easily detached as 

 when in the grilse state, and they have increased very much 

 in weight. After spawning, the fish get very thin and 

 weak, and in this condition are totally unfit for food, and 

 are known as " kelts " or "spent" fish. They drop down 

 to deep, quiet portions of the river, remaining until their 

 strength begins to return, gradually making their way to 



