THE SALMON FAMILY. 257 



company waited until a Salmon fell into the kettle and 

 was thus boiled in their presence. 



A curious leap was recently made by a Salmon in Dum- 

 friesshire. Two young ladies residing in the neighbourhood 

 of Thomhill were walking by the bank of the Eiver Nith, 

 when they saw a large Salmon almost stranded in a shallow 

 creek. They walked into the water and succeeded in 

 driTing the fish up a sort of cul-de-sac from which there 

 was no escape, and were stooping to secure it when it sprang 

 completely over their heads, and falling on the dry land 

 was captured and carried home in triumph. The achieve- 

 ment was, I beheve, chronicled at the time in some of the 

 local papers ; but I can vouch for its authenticity, having 

 received the account direct from the two principal per- 

 formers. 



The invention of ladders or stairs by which the Salmon 

 are enabled to surmount high weirs and other obstruc- 

 tions is one which, if judiciously applied, is likely to prove 

 of infinite value to the fisheries, and will, it is to be hoped, 

 come into yet more general use. These ladders may be 

 constructed so as not in any way to diminish the water- 

 power of mill-streams or lessen their supply — matters 

 which have hitherto given rise to much dispute and em- 

 broilment between the rival owners of mills and of Salmon 

 rivers. One form of the stair is shown in the engraving. 

 A portion of the side of the dam or fall — properly that 

 highest up the stream, as the point towards which Salmon 

 naturally make their ascent — is partitioned oflF and inter- 



