120 NATURAL HISTOEY OF THE SALMON. 



On the 18th of August we went north, and 

 were so fortunate as to see three of the young 

 fish; they had grown double the size. We looked 

 in vain for the large one, but owing to the ripple 

 on the water it was difficult to see any distance 

 from the side. The winter of 1860-61 turned out 

 very severe, and our correspondent's communica- 

 tions were always "fish cannot be seen, owing to 

 the stormy weather." On the 15th of April, our 

 correspondent writes "that I had the good 

 fortune, yesterday morning, to discover one of 

 your lost family, it was lying at the mouth of the 

 pipe, with its head to the stream. I had as good a 

 view of it as I could wish. It appeared to be less 

 than the large one that I saw lying in the same 

 place last summer; but I may state that it would 

 be about double the size and weight of those you 

 saw when here in August last;" so that this fish 

 had increased to the size of a sea-trout of 1 Ib. 

 weight in about ten months. Our next visit was 

 in August, when we were told by the fishermen 

 that they were afraid our fry were all gone, as a 

 notorious poacher had been seen early one morn- 

 ing whipping the pond with his flies, and none 

 of the fish had been observed since. We felt 

 very vexed at the news; but from the unpro- 



