PBAL. 205 



which name it is also known in the Eden and the Esk, the 

 Phinnock of the north and west of Scotland, the White or 

 Phinnock of Pennant, and the Silver White of Tweed tacksmen. 



In the Solway Firth they commence their approach to the 

 mouths of the rivers about the middle and towards the end 

 of June, if the season has been remarkably dry, and perhaps 

 a few days earlier if there has been much rain. From this 

 time they continue running till about the end of August, 

 when the greater part of the shoal is either past or taken. 

 The height of the run, however, may be said to be about 

 the last weeks of July, and their numbers at this time are 

 almost incredible. In the rivers they are caught with the 

 common sweep-nets, in the Firth by the stake-nets of small 

 mesh, or, as they are called, Herling houses. Many hundreds 

 are taken at once in each inclosure at every tide, and the 

 whole neighbourhood is for a short time supplied with them. 

 This abundance, with little exception, seems general wherever 

 they are found. 



They enter the fresh waters for the great- business of 

 spawning, and I have observed that in the larger rivers the 

 great body of the shoal leave the main stream and seek the 

 smaller tributaries, and very few remain where the water 

 continues strong and heavy. The spawning commences earlier 

 than that of the Salmon," (which my own observation has 

 already shewn not to be the case in Cornwall,) "is of course 

 sooner finished, and by the end of February almost the whole 

 of the old fish have returned to the sea. The young I have 

 never been able to see; it is probable, however, they are 

 hatched earlier, and make their way to the salt water when 

 of small size; and three or four months is a sufficient interval 

 for them to have obtained the size and weight of their first 

 appearance in the following June. It may be noticed as 

 remarkable in the history of this fish, and at variance with 

 the habits of the other British Salmons, that from the return 

 of the old fish, or Kelts, to the sea, not an individual is seen 

 till the appearance of the great shoal; a few days before, as 

 stragglers appear, and they are the signal of preparations being 

 commenced for their destruction; but in the intervening four 

 months, between March and the end of June, they are never 

 to be met with;" a circumstance better explained by the 



