THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 123 



do not average more than ten pounds in weight each. I will suppose 

 three rivers running at short distances, the one from the other, into the 

 same arm of the sea, as do the Shin, the Oikel, and the Carsely, and 

 that smolts from each descend simultaneously, and take up their quarters 

 on the same feeding- grounds. Again, I will suppose them entering, in 

 the grilse state, simultaneously to their respective natal rivers. It will 

 be found that the grilse of the Shin will be larger, and much longer 

 than the grilse of the Oikel, and that the grilse of the Oikel will be 

 larger than the grilse of the Carsely. The reason of this disparity 

 is, the full-grown fish of the Shin are much larger than those of the 

 Oikel, and the adult fish of the latter are somewhat larger than those 

 of the Carsely. The growth of salmon at sea, and at sea only, for after 

 having attained in fresh water the small size of smolts, they make no 

 further increase in the non-saline element, depends on three things : 

 duration of time they remain on their sea-feeding grounds, quality and 

 quantity of food they obtain thereon, and hereditary capacity for growth, 

 with apportioned powers of digestion. The grilse of small salmon, that 

 is, of salmon which never grow beyond a small size, are handsomer, in 

 every way better shaped, and generally of a brighter hue than the- 

 grilse, the produce of larger-growing salmon. The grilse of the rivers 

 Carron and Laxford, in - Ross-shire and Sutheiiandshire, are handsome, 

 small-headed, thick and deep, and short in the body; the scales of which 

 are small, smooth, and bright, because they are the offspring of small 

 parent salmon ; whereas, the grilse of the river Shin, in which salmon 

 grow to a very large size, are ill-shapen fish, having large heads, long 

 thin bodies, large, long fins, and large, rough, and by no means brilliant 

 scales. It requires experience to distinguish a large and well-shaped 

 grilse from a small salmon; indeed, grilse are sometimes larger than 

 salmon, for the same reason that a young Dorking fowl is larger than 

 an aged bantam. Frequently, the only distinguishing marks between 

 grilse and salmon, are the smaller scales of the former, and the longer 

 and larger fins in proportion to size. The fins of a grilse of eight pounds 

 in weight, are longer and larger than those of a salmon of the same 

 size. The tail of the grilse is deeply forked ; that of the salmon less so, 

 and very slightly indeed when in prime condition." 



I have now stated the prominent habits of the salmon. Minor matters 

 concerning it, I will narrate rapidly. First, of its powers of jumping 

 from the water, and passing through it. The salmon throws itself 

 straight, rising perpendicularly forward, from the water. Putting its 

 tail in its mouth, and bounding like a skip-jack from the water, is an 

 unaccountable nonsensical notion. Its body is quite straight when it 

 makes its leap, and it does so, no doubt, chiefly by means of striking its 

 fins against the body of water underneath it, and profiting by the 

 resistance to the fins, it presses on them as if they were jumping spring- 

 boards, and then darts forwards and upwards with great strength and 

 agility. 'It rises, I should say, after a run or rush, and jumps in a 

 slanting, uprising direction, like that of a man jumping over a gate, 

 the water be shallow, a salmon can only jump a very small height. It 

 is only from deep water that a full bound can be made. The point 



