THE ATLANTIC SALMON 

 river trout of 2 lb. which was caught on a large " Durham Ranger " 

 in the Rauma. My attention having been drawn to the distended state 

 of its stomach, I ripped it open and took out no fewer than ten beautiful 

 smolts. The removal of these reduced the weight of the trout from 

 32 ounces to 22. 



Now we have followed the young salmon from the nursery to the ocean, 

 keeping them well within ken all the time. But after parting with them 

 In the estuary, until recently their movements were the subject of sheer 

 conjecture and dogmatic assertion. There was a total absence of evidence 

 as to the rate of the fish's growth or the time that should elapse before 

 it reappeared in river as a grilse. Many fishermen believed that a 

 smolt of an ounce weight, reaching the sea in April, might return as 

 a grilse in June weighing two or three pounds, or in August weighing 

 from five to seven pounds. Such a rate of growth is well-nigh incredible 

 on the face of it, and it has now been proved beyond doubt that it does not 

 take place. 



The latest light thrown upon the problem is calculated to dispel some of 

 the most cherished convictions of fishermen, whether professional or 

 amateur. The distinction between grilse and small salmon was never very 

 clear except to experts, and even they could not define it very clearly. 

 One rough test was that, whereas it is easy to land a salmon by grasping 

 it by the tail, a grilse's tail is too slim to allow that to be done. Asked by a 

 tyro how he could distinguish between a grilse of 8 lb. and a salmon of 

 6 lb., an old Scottish fisherman replied, ** Hoots ! it's as easy to ken the 

 differ as between an auld woman and a lassie." This simple formula was 

 sound so far as it went ; but it did not go far enough. 



Attempts have been made from time to time by marking smolts 

 to solve the mystery shrouding the periodicity of salmon migration to 

 and from the sea ; but smolts are too small and tender to carry any but 

 the most delicate distinctive mark. A great advance was achieved as 

 the result of an experiment undertaken in the spring of 1905 under the 

 auspices of the Tay Salmon Fisheries Company, when Mr W. L. Calder- 

 wood and Mr P. D. Malloch superintended the marking of smolts (that 

 is, samlets five or six inches long) on their first migration to the sea. 

 Six thousand five hundred smolts having been intercepted in their mi- 

 gration, at Kinfauns, a piece of fine silver wire was inserted in the fore- 

 part of the dorsal fin. It will readily be understood that the handling of 

 such tender fish as smolts was a delicate matter; it was accomplished by 

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