APPENDIX. 179 



M. Then do you believe that cuckoos are migratory ? 



H. 'No; 1 do not believe that any vague or non-gregarious 

 birds or fishes are migratory ; but that the cuckoo, hke the 

 stone-chatter and water-wagtail, is of hybernating habits — 

 which is not more wonderful in the works of creation than 

 that the bat, humble-bee, and other animals, should exist in a 

 torpid state all winter. If we have so much difficulty in arriving 

 at the true history of animals living in our own element, it is 

 not to be wondered at that theorists, in their attempts to dis- 

 cover the habits of creatures of another element, should reject 

 the laws of nature, and propagate opinions opposed to them, in 

 accordance with their own theories. 



M. How long do the fry remain in the rivers after vivify- 

 ing? 



H. Mr Shaw has proved that they remain in the rivers 

 about twelve months before they proceed to the sea in March, 

 April, and May. During those twelve months their appear- 

 ance does not indicate that they have lived in an unconge- 

 nial element ; for when they are intercepted on their way to 

 the sea, they look round, fat, and plump, yet they do not 

 measure much more, on an average, than five inches in length. 



M. Then you repudiate the idea of their returning that year? 



H. Yes ; on the grand principle of the annual migratory 

 system; which seems to be uniforroly admitted as regards her- 

 rings, that visit the Caithness coast once in the twelve months, 

 swallows, the teal-duck, lapwing, &c. ; that is to say, that at a 

 regular stated period of the year these creatures are invariably 

 expected, and that they never fail to appear at that time, unless 

 their progress is intercepted. So I believe that the smolt of 

 the salmon requires one year at least to perform its migrations, 

 to the North Sea it is supposed, and at the expiry of that time 

 it returns as a salmon ; for it seems quite contrary, indeed, in 

 direct opposition to, the law of migration, to suppose that they 

 do not migrate at all, but only remain in the sea for a period 

 of two months, at the expiry of which time they return to the 

 rivers weighing three or five pounds. An authority on this 

 subject says that salmon run to the sea and back again at 

 pleasure, like shiittlecocks, when they find themselves growing 



