326 HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



gac flecked with tiny blood-vessels ; and by gradually absorbing this material into the 

 system, preserves its life until its increased dimensions permit it to seize prey with the 

 little mouth, afterwards to be so formidably arrayed with teeth. 



In this stage of their existence, the little Salmon are called by a great variety of names 

 and are marked with eight or ten dark patches upon the sides. It was for a long while a 

 moot question as to how long these little fish remained in the river previous to their first 

 migration to the sea. Some authorities announced that, from repeated experiments, they 

 had found that these fish did not stay more than one year in the river ; others as positively 

 averred that on similar grounds they were enabled to show that they remained two years. 

 Subsequent and more satisfactory experiments, conducted at Stormontfield, on the Tay, 

 have shown, however, that both parties are right ; for, singular to say, some of the fish go 

 down after one year and some only after two years' confinement in the fresh water. And 

 stranger still is the fact that hitherto all experiment, attention, and inquiry have failed 

 to afford a satisfactory explanation of this apparent incongruity or irregularity of nature, 

 and it remains a problem unsolved to this day. When the fish are about to depart for 

 the sea, their mottled coat is exchanged for a covering of bright silvery scales, under 

 which, however, the dark patches still exist, and can be seen by holding the fish in 

 certain lights, or by rubbing off the lightly clinging scales. At this period the fish is 

 called a Smolt. 



It now prepares itself for an excursion to the sea, and, urged by an irresistible instinct, 

 finds its way down the stream, until it at last emerges into the ocean. What may be the 

 course of its marine life is not known, the fish being lost in the wide expanse of ocean ; 

 but, in the course of the autumn, it returns to the river whence it came, and forces its way 

 up the stream. The technical name for the fish is now Grilse or Salmon Peal, and after 

 its second visit to the sea it is called a Salmon. After spawning, the fish is in very bad 

 condition, and is known by the name of Kelt. The flesh is then white, evil-smelling, and 

 loathsome to a degree ; nevertheless the French consume vast quantities of it disguised 

 by the arts of cookery, and hundreds of tons are annually exported to Paris during the 

 " close " season, to the great injury and destruction of our fisheries. 



An animated controversy has raged at intervals respecting the identity of so changeable 

 a fish at the several epochs of its life, and few persons seem to be able to decide positively 

 whether certain fishes are young Salmon, or a separate species called by the name of Parr. 



It nas been thought by many practical observers that, as in the so-called Parr which 

 is marked just like the young Salmon the milt, or soft roe as it is more popularly called, 

 is fully developed, the creature must have reached adult age. But the female Parr has 

 never yet been found with spawn in the same perfect condition, and experiments have 

 been proved that the very young male Salmon, when only weighing an ounce and a half, 

 and being about the size of a man's finger, has the milt fully developed, and capable of 

 vivifying the eggs of the adult female Salmon. It may be casually observed that the 

 young of the Salmonidae bear a great resemblance to each other, and that the word Pan- 

 is used in a very vague and loose manner. 



The perseverance shown, and the bodily efforts made by the Salmon in passing up the 

 stream are really wonderful. No rapid seems too powerful to be overcome, and even 

 falls of a considerable height are surmounted with marvellous force and address, the fish 

 shooting from the bed of the river and concentrating all its forces into a simultaneous 

 effort which drives it high into the air. It often happens that the fish leaps short of its 

 mark, or alights in a wrong place, and is swept down again by the falling waters. 

 Nothing daunted, however, it recommences its efforts, and is sure at last to succeed. 

 An ingenious arrangement of alternate stages is now often affixed by proprietors to a 

 fall where it is too high for the Salmon to pass it by a single spring. The fish soon find 

 out this water staircase, and flock to the spot in preference to attempting the passage in 

 any other locality. 



Traps and nets of various kinds are often fixed at the falls, so as to catch the fish that 

 have not made good their leap, or who happen to shoot out of the right direction. 



During their whole lives the Salmon continue to migrate to the sea, invariably 

 if possible returning to the identical river in which they were born. This migration is 



