THE HAUNTS OF SALMON. 311 



yances they draw into the principal rough streams, 

 always lying in places where they can be least 

 easily discovered. They are very fond of a stream 

 above a deep pool, into which they can fall back 

 in case of disturbance. They prefer lying upon 

 even rock, or behind large blocks of stone, parti- 

 cularly such as are of a colour approaching that 

 of themselves. At every swell of the river, unless 

 it is a very trifling one, the fish move upwards 

 nearer the spawning places; so that no one can 

 reckon upon preserving his particular part of the 

 river, which is the chief reason of the universal 

 destruction of these valuable animals. Previous 

 to a flood, the fish frequently leap out of the 

 water, either for the purpose of filling their air- 

 bladders to make them more buoyant for travelling, 

 or from excitement, or, perhaps, to exercise their 

 powers of ascending heights and cataracts in the 

 course of their journey upwards." 



Historians used to gravely tell us that salmon, 

 in order to jump high, were in the habit of placing 

 their tails in their mouths, and then bending them- 

 selves like a bow, bound out of the water to a 

 considerable distance, from twelve to twenty feet. 

 Mr. Scrope calculates that six feet in height is 

 more than the average spring of salmon, though 

 he conceives that very large fish, in deep w^ater, 

 could leap much higher. He says, " Large fish 

 can spring much higher than small ones ; but their 

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