178 THE SALMON. 



that the water supplies, and it has the advantage over 

 other delicious kinds, of being very abundant. So long 

 as the inhabitants of the north have their salmon, they 

 need not envy those of the south their turtle. 



Salmon being fond of a low temperature, are con- 

 fined to the northern hemisphere, and even in that 

 they are not found only from about the parallel of 

 the south of England northwards, from which, toward 

 the arctic circle, they are found in the greatest num- 

 bers. They seek the alpine streams, but they prefer 

 those that are not frozen over ; and they are said 

 instinctively to return to those in which they were 

 produced. This cannot of course be absolutely au- 

 thenticated, as their march in the deep cannot be 

 followed ; yet there are characteristic differences in 

 those of different rivers, sufficient to enable the fisher- 

 man to know them ; but whether these characters be 

 derived from the place of their nativity, or stamped 

 upon them annually after they leave the sea, and enter 

 the estuary, is not absolutely determined. There are 

 some facts, however, which would lead one to con- 

 clude that their local characters are not annual. After 

 they have once entered an estuary, there is no reason 

 for supposing that they descend again, till they have 

 deposited their spawn ; and thus it is by no means 

 probable that the same individual would be found in 

 two estuaries during the same season ; and yet if the 

 characters were seasonal, this would be required, be- 

 fore a Tweed salmon could be found in the Tyne, or 

 a Tay salmon in the Forth. These are, however, of 

 frequent occurrence, and so decided, that those who 

 are familiar with the varieties of salmon, never mistake 



