BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



I. 



SALMON. 



WITH all our practical and scientific means of in- 

 vestigation, it is strange how much remains to be 

 known about the salmon. There are certain phases 

 of its life-history which are as yet a mystery, and 

 which the closest scrutiny has not enabled us to 

 unravel. Its food, its migrations, its spawning, 

 its very appearance vary in different rivers, though 

 peculiar local conditions doubtless account for 

 much of the confusion which now exists. There 

 is one fact in connection with the species which 

 is placed outside the range of controversy, and 

 which ought to prove valuable in the future. 

 It is now definitely known that in the great 

 majority of cases salmon return to spawn in the 

 river where they were bred. What it is that 

 enables a fresh-run fish to do this is not clearly 

 known, though Buckland in his life was strongly 



B 



