278 



THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



which, considering the shortness of the river, is not at all bad. 

 Here are the totals since 1900, excepting the years 1904 and 1907 : 



1900 - 45 



1901 - 52 



1902 - 53 



1903 - 44 



1905 

 1906 



29 

 43 



1908 - 10 



The migrations of those Kirkaig fish is a matter of some interest. 

 The spawning ground for salmon is distinctly limited. So far as our 

 marking on east coast rivers go, it is clear that the great majority of 

 kelts return to their own rivers again as clean fish if they return 

 from the sea at all. In a short river such as the Kirkaig, the ques- 

 tion naturally arises to one's mind : Can it produce all the fish that 

 ascend it ? It is a late river. July is as early as one need start. 

 No one sees the kelts, and the chances are they are not very long in 

 the water. To carry out some kelt marking, and if possible some 

 smolt marking, not only in the Kirkaig but in the neighbouring 

 rivers, might show some most interesting and instructive results. 

 But, from experience, I know it is a difficult matter to secure an 

 adequate number of kelts in those small rivers. 



KIVEB, POLLY. 



This river is within the limits of the Kirkaig district as pre- 

 scribed by the Salmon Act of 1868. It is the property of the 

 Countess of Cromarty, and enters the sea at the head of Euard Bay, 

 about four miles south of Inverkirkaig. Like the larger river, its 

 upper waters are cut off by an impassable fall, but in general char- 

 acter it is quite different, being in its lower part a still, sluggish 

 stream, which can only be properly fished when there is a breeze. 

 It rises from two sources the more southerly from a loch 222 feet 

 up, and rather more than three miles from the sea ; the other from 

 quite a series of lochs (all closed to salmon), the last of which is 

 Loch Shinaskaig, long famous for its trout. 



A little loch just below Shinaskaig, called Loch-an-Dalach, used at 

 one time to be also closed to salmon. In 1878, however, on the advice 

 of Mr. Archibald Young, then Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, this 

 lower barrier was circumvented by deepening a side channel, and so 

 securing a sufficient gradient for fish to ascend. Mr. Young says in 

 a report that, as a result, the fish promptly went up to the loch 

 above ; but unfortunately the fall above this and below Loch Shin- 

 askaig is a barrier of 25 feet or so, with conditions which make any 

 further operations well-nigh out of the question. 



The Polly, therefore, has only about the same length as the 



