82 The Natural History of t lie Salmon. 



gradual growth in the fresh water. Now it is a 

 question worth considering whether the male fresh- 

 run fish in the autumn have a sufficient sized beak 

 to contend against the old fellows who have been 

 up in the fresh water for weeks, and whether the 

 milt in these fresh fish is capable of generating the 

 species. Some assert that the male salmon when 

 he has put on this great beak never recovers his 

 condition, but either dies in the river, or returns to 

 the sea in so weak a state that he easily falls a prey 

 to the seals and otters. No doubt many fish, male 

 and female, are killed in this way ; but the great 

 male fish we see displayed in the shops, of fifty, 

 sixty, and even seventy pounds weight, must have 

 been up and down the rivers many times ; and also 

 it must be borne in mind that the male grilse of six 

 or eight or ten pounds, puts on as relatively great 

 a beak as the salmon of twenty or thirty pounds. 



That the salmon is extremely voracious whilst 

 in the sea there can be no doubt, and lives chiefly 

 upon small fish and crustacese. Young herrings 

 he delights in. On certain parts of the northern 

 coast salmon are taken in the coble nets baited 

 with bits of herring. In Robin Hood Bay, on the 

 coast of Yorkshire, this is a common occurrence ; 

 put the net down however without the herrings and 

 not a salmon will be caught. 



That the sea water is necessary for salmon to 



