CHAP. VII. .THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 119 



per, that is to say, have boney gristles grow out of their 

 lower chaps, not unlike a hawk's beak, which hinders 

 their feeding; and, in time, such fish so left behind pine 

 away and die. 'Tis observed, that he may live thus one 

 year from the sea; but he then grows insipid and tasteless, 

 and loses both his blood and strength, and pines and 

 dies the second year. And 'tis noted, that those little 

 Salmons called Skeggers, which abound in many rivers 

 relating to the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons that 

 might not go to the sea, and that though they abound, 

 yet they never thrive to any considerable bigness. 



But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle 

 which shews him to be kipper, wears away, or is cast off, 

 as the eagle is said to cast his bill, and he recovers his 

 strength, and comes next summer to the same river, if it 

 be possible, to enjoy the former pleasures that there pos- 

 sest him ; ' for, as one has wittily observed, he has, like 

 some persons of honour and riches which have both their 

 winter and summer-houses, the fresh rivers for summer, 

 and the salt water for winter, to spend his life in ; which 

 is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his History 

 ^ of Life and Death, above ten years. And it is to be ob- 

 served, that though the Salmon does grow big in the sea, 

 yet he grows not fat but in fresh rivers ; and it is observed, 

 that the farther they get from the sea, they be both the 

 fatter and better. 



Next, I shall tell you, that though they make very hard 

 shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, yet they 



(1) The migration of the Salmon and divert other sorts of fishes is analogous 

 to that ot Birds:, and Mr. Ray confirms Walton's assertion, by saying, that 

 Salmon will yearly ascend uj a river four or five hundred miles, only to cast 

 their spawn, and secure it in banks of sand till the young be hatched and 

 excluded ; and then return to sea again." // udom of God manifested in the 

 Works of the Creation, p. 130. 



Jt 11. ay not be improper here to take notice, that in this, and several other 

 parts of the hook, U>e tacts related by the author do most remarkably coincide 

 with later discoveries of the most diligent and sagacious naturalists. 



