76 Investigations on the Life-History 



Aberdeenshire, informs me that the spring fish in that river press up 

 stream into the tributaries, some 15 to 20 miles above Braemar ; whereas 

 the autumn fish, which collect in the greatest numbers between 

 Banchory and Ballater, are seldom found above Braemar. He distin- 

 guishes between spring and autumn fish from the fact that fish taken 

 ascending the river in the spring are, as a rule, small fish, whereas those 

 taken in the autumn are considerably larger. Small fish, corresponding 

 in size to the spring fish and much discoloured, showing they had been 

 in the fi-esh water a long time, are found in the upper part of the river, 

 and are the first to spawn ; whereas the fish in the lower part of the 

 river resemble, in size, those caught during the autumn, and present the 

 appearance of having more recently left the sea. 



" In the district of the river Ness, the fish run straight through the 

 river Ness and Loch Ness into the river Garry. The river Garry flows 

 into the upper end of Loch Ness. Indeed, it is said that, although the 

 Oick and Garry fish must pass up the Ness, scarcely any settle there, no 

 fish being taken in the Ness by the fly before July. The same is said 

 of the Orchy on the West Coast. The Orchy flows into Loch Awe, 

 which is connected with the sea by the river Awe. The Awe is a late 

 river, the heaviest salmon being got in the autumn, while the Orchy 

 below the falls is best in the spring. The spring fish are said, as a rule, 

 to come right up to the long, deep, rocky pool below the falls. In the 

 river Severn in England, Mr. Willis Bund, in his book Sedition Problems, 

 says that there is a spring run of small salmon, weighing from 81bs. to 

 1 51bs., in February and March. These are very strong active fish, and 

 press up the river at once, those getting to the top forming the early 

 spawners. These instances are sufficient to show that in some rivers, at 

 any rate, clean fish, having their roe very slightly developed, ascend at, 

 once to the head waters of the river. 



" It will be observed, also, that the observations of Mr. Willis Bund on 

 the Severn, and the superintendent of the water bailiffs on the Dee, tend 

 to show that the spring fish are the early spawners, and form the 

 breeding stock in the head waters of the rivers. The observations of 

 Mr. Ffennel, one of the commissioners appointed under the Salmon 

 Fisheries (Scotland) Act of 1862, correspond with those of Mr. Willis 

 Bund and the superintendent of the Dee. In his evidence before the 

 Select Committee of the House of Lords in 1860, he said that tin- 

 salmon which entered the rivers in November, December, January, 

 February, and March, spawned in the following October. He said that 

 in the river he had lived upon, the Suir, he had watched salmon from 

 childhood ; in February new fish came up plentifully, the water got very 

 low and clear, and they could see them in the pools through the summer. 

 He had, therefore, no doubt that salmon would live and thrive for a 

 whole twelve months in fresh water. He further stated that these fish, 

 although discoloured, remained very fat and exceedingly good to eat up 

 till midsummer. 



" At Sand in Norway, where I watched the habits of salmon for some 

 years, the early fish having high crests and slight development of roe, 

 <sime into the river in June. These fish, as soon as they could pass the 

 first fall, ran right up to the second, whereas the lower pools did not 

 contain fish in any numbers until late on in the autumn." 



4th. It has been sometimes suggested that the fish which ascend the 

 rivers early in spring do not remain there throughout the season, but 

 that they may again descend to the sea to feed, and again ascend the 

 river to spawn later in the season. That salmon may and do move up 

 and down the rivers during the summer and autumn there can be no 



