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THE NATURE BOOK 



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have been found inside Salmon 

 caught in fresh water. 



" If the Salmon does not eat 

 fish in the rivers, why does he 

 seize a small fish when used as 

 a spinning bait by a fisherman ? " 

 is a question often put to those 

 who deny that Salmon feed in 

 fresh water. My own answer must 

 be : "I cannot say." I know that 

 there are two or three views upon 

 this curious fact, and I am dis- 

 posed to believe that the opinion 

 that a Salmon takes a fly or a 

 bait out of an excited curiosity 

 alone is not altogether without a 

 basis. 



It has been stated that Salmon 

 do feed in fresh water, and that 

 their food consists of those very 

 minute jelly-like creatures that are 

 to be found in all river water. 

 There may be truth in this, for 

 fish certainly live for a long time 

 in captivity in water into which 

 no food is introduced. 



The so-called " flies " used by 

 Salmon fishers certainly bear very 

 little resemblance to any natural 

 insect seen upon the rivers ; and, 

 moreover, it has not been finally 

 proved that Salmon seize natural 

 floating insects. Yet they will take 

 a bunch of gaudy feathers, tied 

 on to a hook, a dead prawn, a 

 spoonbait, or a spinning gudgeon. 

 If hunger is not the prompting 

 push " of foaming water, or to clear the impulse to seize a bait, what can be 



FALL ASCENDED BY SALMON IN FLOOD TIME. 



fall with a tremendous bound. One of our 

 pictures shows a weir, in a low state of the 

 water, which is, however, no obstacle to 

 a bold Salmon ; while in the illustration 

 on this page is shown a waterfall in the 

 higher waters of a stream in the uplands, 

 which roving Salmon ascend in time of 

 flood. 



I shall not express any positive opinion 

 upon the diet of Salmon in fresh water. 

 An examination of the stomachs of 

 hundreds of Salmon taken from rivers 



the explanation ? This question con- 

 stantly recurs whenever Salmon anglers 

 gather together. I can only reply in 

 the words of an old fisherman on the 

 Dee, " You see, a Salmon is a very 

 irritable, bad-tempered fish, and when 

 he sees anything that he does not 

 like the look of, he says, ' If you come 

 near me again I'll snap at you.' And 

 that's why, after the twentieth or the 

 fiftieth cast, he takes your fly. He gets 

 so irritated, he cannot stand it any 



has not afforded an explanation of the longer." 

 mystery. In by far the larger number A good Salmon season depends upon 



of instances, the digestive organs have the state of the weather and the rivers, 



shown no trace whatever of food. Salmon will not ascend very cold streams 



Lately, however, anglers have stated or waters containing melting snow ; and 



that, very rarely, half-digested fish they are easily deterred from travelling 



