32 6 HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



sac 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 pre- 

 vious to their first migration to the sea. Some authorities announced that, from re- 

 peated 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, con- 

 ducted 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 ex- 

 changed 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 change- 

 able 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 has 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 ex- 

 periments 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 Parr 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 



