136 



SALMON AND TROUT. 



wonderful to those who have watched the process, we may well 

 hesitate to accept all the 'tall stories' on the subject which have 

 been put on record, with more or less show of authority. No 

 doubt the depth of water from which the spring is taken mate- 

 rially influences its height ; but I should hesitate to assert that 

 I had myself seen a perpendicular leap exceeding ten or twelve 

 feet —and I have seen some thousands. Frequently the fish 

 are actually killed by the exhaustive violence of their exertions 

 or injuries caused by falling back on the rock. 



Salmon ladders or stairs by which the fish are enabled to 



MODEL OF FIRST SALMON LADDIiR APPROVED BY THE HOME OFFICE. 



surmount high wei-rs and other obstructions have proved of in 

 finite value to the fisheries, and will, it is to be hoped, come 

 into yet more general and extensive use. This subject, for 

 reasons of space omitted here, is referred to in the earlier 

 editions. 



Many rivers are still absolutely blocked to the ascent of 

 salmon by impossible obstacles ; but where no such impediment 

 exists the instinct of the fish is to go on ascending by degrees 



