THE SALMON FAMILY. 289 



would add weight to the body and prevent rapid flight. 

 Why may not this law apply also to fish ? Again^ many 

 birds, especially carnivorous, have the power of emptying 

 their stomachs by vomiting when danger is near and their 

 activity is to be called into play. Is it not possible that 

 Salmon too may have the power of ejecting their food 

 when they find themselves in trouble either by hook or 

 net?" 



A writer in No. 87 of ' Once a Week ' says : — " My 

 friend, Mr. Walter Campbell, informed me that he once 

 had a wonderful haul of Salmon at Islay, in an estuary of 

 the sea. He landed 716, and many of them escaped. As 

 the net approached the shore he saw the fish discharging 

 the contents of their stomachs, which consisted of small 

 eels." 



Be this as it may, one point is certain, viz. that such a 

 marvellously rapid growth as that shown to take place in 

 the Salmon can only be produced by a corresponding 

 supply of nutritious food ; and as regards the travelling or 

 otherwise of the fish in the sea, the thousands of Salmon 

 constantly taken in nets along all parts of our coasts are 

 a clear proof that they do rove, at least to considerable 

 distances, from their native rivers and estuaries. From the 

 observations of Sir William Jardine and Dr. Heysham it 

 would appear probable that, when the fish happen to have 

 thus wandered beyond their usual limits, they will ^i the 

 proper season run up the first stream they meet with, the 

 temperature and condition of which are congenial. 



