SALMON FISHING. 131 



been nice little fish of five or six inches in length, and 

 called parrs, having certain blotches or marks, called parr 

 marks, on their sides, then they begin to change their 

 scales, and put on a new silvery coat, which hides the parr 

 marks, and makes the little fish appear the miniature 

 salmon it is. These fish are then called smolts, and they 

 migrate down the river to the sea about the month of May. 

 Here they stay for a longer or shorter time, and grow very 

 rapidly, being very eager feeders, and finding abundant 

 food among the molluscs and fish fry of the ocean. At 

 the end of three or four months some of these fish, 

 increased to 31b. or 41b. in weight, come back to the river 

 as grilse, and push their way up to the spawning beds, 

 where they spawn for the first time. Many, however, do 

 not return the same year, but stay another period of eight, 

 ten, or twelve months, or more, in the sea, and come back 

 greatly increased in size, often reaching 91b., lOlb., or even 

 lllb. in weight. But all these fish, on their first return 

 from the sea, are what are called grilse. They are more 

 slender in shape, have a more forked tail, and their scales 

 are more easily detached than is the case with mature 

 salmon. 



Some of the parr, however, do not always become smolts 

 and migrate so soon. They remain in the river for another 

 year, and a portion of them have been found to remain 

 even two years before they make their first move. The 

 grilse, having spawned, goes down to the sea again as a 

 kelt, or spent fish, thin, and much deteriorated. And here, 

 again, there is some irregularity about its return, some 

 coming back mature salmon in a few months, and some 

 staying on another season in the sea, when they come back 

 mature fish, much increased in size. But the periods of 

 these migrations are now known to be more or less uncer- 



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