MIGRATIONS OF THE SALMON, 13 



of dyspepsia. Some days afterwards, \vhen celebrating 

 mass, reminiscences of the delicious fish floated back upon 

 his mind, and during the confiteor he was heard to mur- 

 mur, as he quietly beat his breast, " Ah, ce bon saumon ! 

 ce bon saumon ! " 



Salmon is named among the dainty dishes placed before 

 A rthur and the Knights of the Table Round in Hookham 

 Frere's mock-heroic poem. It is included in the bills of 

 fare recorded in the Earl of Northumberland's Household 

 Book, which belongs to the reign of Henry VII. And, 

 to conclude these notes, is it not immortalized in the 

 " Noctes Ambrosianse " of Christopher North ] 



The salmon is an inhabitant of northern climes. In 

 autumn and winter it is a fresh-water, during the rest of 

 the year a salt-water fish. It quits the " ocean-depths " 

 about October for spawning purposes, and in immense 

 shoals seeks the mouths of the rivers, up the channel of 

 which it will force its way. It is said that the phalanx 

 preserve a remarkable degree of military array in their 

 movements ; so that Olaus Magnus describes the shining 

 procession, in their glittering panoply of scales, sweeping 

 rapidly onwards like an invading army, as a spectacle well 

 worthy of admiration. 



On these occasions they swim as cranes and wild geese 

 fly in a wedge ; the largest salmoness, it is said, forming 

 the apex of the triangle, and the young males the base. 

 According to Deslandes, when ascending a stream they 

 keep as close as possible to the bottom, because there the 

 current against which they are contending has less power ; 

 but in descending they rise to the surface, to profit by 

 the force of the current, which is then going in the same 

 direction as themselves. Some authorities assert that 



