SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 117 



■ffitli the fisheries?" — " Some of them have, hut the greater part are 

 tradespeople and labourers, principally weavers." 



Now, all the operations connected with stake-nets are carried 

 on on dry ground. The stakes are planted — the nets are 

 attached to them— and the fish are taken out of them at ebb- 

 tide. Of all fishers, of whatever description, the stake-net fisher 

 has the least connection with boats or with the water. Even 

 his fish he carries to the ice-house on land, or to the vessel in 

 harbour, that is to convey them to London ; yet it is by these 

 dry-shod weavers, rendered by stake-nets such expert seamen, 

 that our navy is to be manned. — Certes, the country is much 

 indebted to Mr Kennedy for bringing so important a fact into 

 notice. 



The Eeverend Dr Fleming is a witness of a higher caste. He 

 is a naturalist, and a man of science; — he has written an 

 article, he says, on Ichthyology in the Encyclopaedia ; — and he 

 know more, his friends the stake-net owners tell us, regard- 

 ing the natural history of salmon than all the men in his 

 Majesty's dominions. We must, therefore, bestow a little more 

 notice upon him. Johnstone and Halliday have stated, as we 

 have seen, that salmon are induced to enter rivers to get rid of 

 sear-lice, and in search of food. — The Doctor has discovered 

 another reason, viz. — terror ! He says, 



" Towards the heads of estuaries salmon must be frequently in- 

 duced to enter rivers properly so called, iu order to escape from the 

 numerous foes which persecute them in the estuaries." 



" How far (the Committee ask) do you think the salmon may go 

 into a river when not obstructed, and return to the sea without 

 having spawned?" — " A good deal must depend on the degree of 

 terror of the fish, — ^its strength, — and the state of the river." 



This is a new reason why salmon enter rivers, which certainly 

 has no connection with any of what appear to be the principles 

 of the migratory system. The degree of terror in the Tay fish 

 must be very great, for many of them never stop till they reach 

 Loch Tay. 



We wonder how many degrees of terror salmon experience, 

 or how long they continue. We always thought that the eye 

 was the principal organ of terror in a salmon, and that in this 



