THE SALMON FAMILY. 251 



whilst very few keep the main course of the Oikel until a 

 much later period. 



A somewhat analogous effect, indirectly traceable to 

 the same cause, has been pointed out by Dr. Heysham * 

 as observable in several of the Cumberland f rivers. The 

 Salmon, during winter and spring, evidently prefer the 

 Eden to either the Esk, Caldew, or Peteril, although the 

 Eden and the Esk pour their waters into the same estuary, 

 and, in fact, are only separated at their mouths by a small 

 promontory. There is hardly an instance, he states, of a 

 Salmon entering the latter until the middle of April or 

 beginning of May — a circumstance referred by the fisher- 

 men to the difference in temperature between the two 

 streams, — the waters of the Eden, they allege, being con- 

 siderably warmer than those of the Esk, which, from the 

 shallow and rocky character of the bed of the Esk, appears 

 not improbable. Be this as it may, it is an indubitable 

 fact that snow-water prevents fish from running up even 

 the milder stream of the Eden. The Caldew and the 

 Peteril, again, pour their waters into the Eden, the one at, 

 and the other a little above Carlisle; yet up neither of 



* Catalogue of Cimiberland Animals. 



t In Cumberland, Mort and Sjpod are names applied indiscrimi- 

 nately to the Salmon and Salmon-Trout, the former term being used 

 for fisb weighing between 2 and 5 lbs., and the latter for smaller fish. 

 (Dr. Davy, Angler in Lake District.) The fishermen of the Ribble in 

 Lancashire call Salmon of one year old. Smelts ; next year they are 

 Sprods, in the third Marts, in the fourth Fork-tails, in the fifth Half- 

 fish, and in the sixth and thereafter, Salmon. (Willughby.) 



