GROWTH OF SALMON. 301 



the first time to the sea, and in two or three months 

 or more returns to its parent river a gilse or 

 grilse, having increased a pound more or less 

 during every month it has tarried in sea water. 

 At the end of its third year or the beginning 

 of its fourth (I am speaking of the female fish, 

 for the puerile parr will breed, horresco referens, 

 with its great grand-dam) it breeds, and soon after 

 migrates for the second time to the sea. A 

 sojourn there of a few months changes its name, 

 size, and shape, and immigrating again into its 

 native stream it becomes a salmon. To deserve- 

 that name it must have made two voyages to sea, 

 and entered the fourth year of its existence. 

 Afterwards, as long as it lives, it visits the sea 

 annually, and annually revisits the streams of its 

 birth, in which it gives birth to thousands of its 

 tribe. Become an adult, the longer it remains at 

 sea the more rapid is its growth. In fresh water 

 it no longer thrives, and seems to seek the pure 

 element for no other purpose than the important 

 one of propagating its species. I have now in a 

 very few lines traced the grand outlines of salmon 

 life. I shall now confine myself to some minute 

 details, omitting those that I do not think it ne- 

 cessary for the mere angler to know. 



Mr. John Shaw of Drumlanrig, and Mr. John 

 Young of Sutherlandshire, the former the manager 



