184 THE SALMON. 



weather, but, generally, about the month of April, the 

 heat of the sun begins to hatch the eggs, which not 

 only lie dormant during the winter, but are supposed 

 not to be in the least injured, though completely frozen. 

 The young fish begin to raise their heads through the 

 sand and gravel, but continue for some time attached 

 to the eggs, from the remains of which they derive 

 their nourishment. A fisherman, who had long been 

 familiar with salmon, in all their visible stages, com- 

 pared their first appearance to the springing of a bed 

 of " young onions." 



After the fry are once detached from the eggs, they 

 increase very rapidly in size ; and at the age of a 

 month or six weeks they take their passage down- 

 wards to the sea, increasing in bulk as they proceed ; 

 and making a halt for some time when they first come 

 to brackish water, as they are not able to bear the 

 salt without a sort of gradual preparation. In this 

 state they are called "smouts" by the fishermen, and 

 numbers of them are often stranded in stormy weather. 

 In June and July the smouts disappear; and by the 

 time that the last of them have vanished, the first 

 re-ascend the river as gilses. Sometimes these are 

 larger than the smaller full-grown salmon, but in 

 general they are not so large ; their tails are straight 

 at the end, whereas those of the salmon are forked ; 

 and they have neither the pearly lustre, nor the rich 

 colour and flavour, of a salmon immediately from the 

 sea. They ascend the river for the purpose of spawn- 

 ing, which operation they no doubt perform in the 

 same manner as the mature fish; but they either 

 change to salmon after their first spawning, or they 



