CHAP. VII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 121 



He instantly essays, and from his nimble ring 

 Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling 

 Above the opposing stream. 



This Michael Drayton tells you, of this leap or summer- 

 sault of the Salmon. 



And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by 

 Gesner and others, that there is no better Salmon than in 

 England; and that though some of our northern counties 

 have as fat, and as large as the river Thames, yet none 

 are of so excellent a taste. 1 



And as I have told you, that Sir Francis Bacon ob- 

 serves, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years ; so let 

 me next tell you, that his growth is very sudden, it is said, 

 that after he is got into the sea, he becomes, from a Sam- 

 let not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Salmon, in as short 

 a time as a gosling becomes to be a goose. Much of this 

 has been observed, by tying a ribband, or some known 

 tape or thrad, in the tail of some young Salmons which 

 have been taken in weirs as they have swimmed towards 

 the salt water ; and then by taking a part of them again, 

 with the known mark, at the same place, at their return 

 Yronj the sea, which is usually about six months after ; and 

 the like experiment hath been tried upon young swallows, 

 who have, after six months absence, been observed to re- 

 turn to the same chimney, there to make their nests and 

 habitations for the summer following : which has inclined 

 many to think, that every Salmon usually returns to 

 the same river in which it was bred, as young pigeons 

 taken out of the same dove-cote have also been observed 

 to do. 



(1) The following interesting article of intelligence appeared in one of the 

 London Journals, 18 April 1789: " The largest salmon ever caught was yester- 

 day brought to London. This extraordinary fish measured upwards of four 

 fe*t, from the point of the nose to the extremity of the tail ; and three feet 

 round the thickest part of the body : its weight was seventy pounds within a 

 few ounces. A fishmonger in the Minories cut it up at one shilling per pound, 

 and the whole was sold almost immediately." 



