AUGUST 211 



are very cold, so cold that the migratory 

 fish, instead of running into them, stay 

 in the sea, directly warmed by the Gulf 

 Stream, until the rivers are made comfort- 

 ably habitable by rain in May or June. 

 Melted snow is the origin of the other 

 rivers also ; but long before their courses 

 are run they have been warmed in the 

 plains, and the North Sea, not being so 

 much affected by the Gulf Stream, is 

 far into spring colder than the rivers 

 which it receives. Thus, while the 

 migratory fish of the west are lingering 

 in the salt water for the sake of warmth, 

 those of the east are running into the 

 rivers to escape the cold. 



In reality, then, it is the western 

 streams that are late, and it is the eastern 

 streams that are early. The seatrout and 

 salmon that have recently been caught 

 in the Awe and the Orchy and the Shiel 

 are, as it were, fish analogous to those 

 which were caught in the Spey and the 

 Dee and the Tay between February and 

 the beginning of June. That is the 



