STORMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 105 



THE SMOULT OE YOUNG SALMON AFTEE 

 MIGEATION. 



In descending the river to the sea, smoults 

 congregate in shoals, rise greedily to the fly, and 

 become an easy prey to the angler. They pro- 

 ceed slowly, unless a heavy spate occurs at the 

 time, which soon sweeps them into the ocean. 

 The marked pond-bred smoults have been traced 

 all the way from that place to the salt water a 

 distance of at least twenty miles. Even those 

 marked by the rings have been brought ashore in 

 the fishermen's nets many miles below the pond, 

 and others have been observed, by the men in 

 charge of the still-net at Broughty Ferry, hav- 

 ing the ring attached, ten or twelve days after 

 marking. "What becomes of the fish after it 

 reaches the sea is as yet matter of conjecture. 

 All we know for certain is, that after six or 

 eight weeks a number return to the same river, 

 having increased in weight, from half-an-ounce 

 to between two and five pounds. What they got 

 to feed upon while in the salt water, naturalists 

 are not agreed upon,* but there is no doubt 

 that in the sea their food is abundant. Not a 

 few naturalists have said that salmon travel a 



* See Appendix. 



