108 SALMONID^ OP BRITAIN. 



From time to time discussions arise as to whetker salmon do or do not feed 

 in fresh waters, some maintaining that they do, while others hold contrary 

 opinions, the argument which is generally adduced against their doing so being 

 that as a rule very little, if any, food is found in the stomachs of those captured 

 in rivers which are far distant from the salt water. 



Many of those who admit that the male par or the mending kelt will feed in 

 fresh waters, hold that salmon as a rule do not increase in weight when absent 

 from salt water ; but proof in figures is still wanting to uphold this theory as 

 applicable to all salmon, while excreta from the vent may be seen in some, and 

 which must be the remains of food that they have consumed.* 



It seems possible to divide salmon ascending rivers into two classes : first such 

 as will breed within a short period after their ascent, and secondly, such as will 

 not do so without again descending to the sea, being clean-run fish. This raises 

 the question whether the latter of these classes or the clean-run salmon may not 

 be the feeders ; whereas the breeders are more or less abstainers. In recording 

 investigations on this subject it is desirable that the sex and condition of the fish 

 should be ascertained, because many piscine forms, such as shad, trout, and char, 

 more or less cease feeding at the period of spawning and subsist on the fat stored 

 up in their bodies. At Howietoun, in 1 882, as the time for the smolts to give eggs 

 arrived, they were observed to go off their feed, and young fish were supplied to 

 tempt their appetites, but only with moderate success, and subsequent to the 

 breeding season they came on their feed again (see p. 103 ante). 



On March 10th, 1886, Mr. Olive, fishmonger in the Promenade, Cheltenham, 

 drew my attention to the condition of the belly in a male 12-lb. clean salmon 

 received by him the previous day from the tidal portion of the Severn below 

 Newnham. The stomach was very distended, and on being removed from 

 the fish it was found to measure 7 in. in length and contained twenty-two entire 

 sprats (Glupea sprattus), the smallest being 2'6 in. long, and the largest 4|, 

 while all were quite fresh. Their eyes were bright, their fins complete, and their 

 scales as adherent as is generally seen in those fishes as exhibited for sale : they 

 had scarcely been acted upon by the gastric juices, tending to show that, at times 

 at least, digestion in these fishes is not very rapid. This he informed me was the 

 first instance of fish present in a salmon's stomach, that he, Mr. Olive, had seen in 

 forty years' experience. 



One modifying circumstance in the feeding of the salmon has been observed 

 to be connected with a muddy state of the river, possibly interfering with 

 respiration, consequent upon the amount of mud which had been swaUowed.f 



Similarly taken were found to be empty, and only gave a slight alkaline reaction. August 27th, 

 September 3rd and 6tb, two salmon and one grilse taken with the fly in fresb waters, their stomachs 

 were empty, and reactions the same. In par and smolts he obtained different results, food was 

 always present in tbeir stomachs and gave an acid reaction, the examination being made so soon 

 as they had been taken from the water. Sea trout taken with fly in fresh water in the majority 

 of instances afforded results similar to those of the salmon, in some, which contained food, giving 

 an acid reaction, only once in forty-two trials did he find an acid reaction occur with an empty 

 stomach. Brook trout gave the same results. 



* T. Harris, in the Field, March 29th, 1884, observed that on March 22nd a fresh fish of 321b. 

 weight had been taken with a rod and line in the Hampshire Stour about four miles from Christ- 

 church, the bait used being a dace, 4 or 6 in. long and light trolling tackle. This was the 

 second fish killed with a dace bait during the year, and in each case after fly and prawn had 

 failed. Either three or four were killed the previous year with similar bait, the other two fish 

 weighed respectively 11 lb. and 19 lb. Mr. Robinson sent to the office of The Field on September 

 7th, 1885, a small trout 6 in. long, taken from the stomach of a female fresh-run grilse 6J lb. 

 weight, from Well Pool, Thurso river. 



t Mr. C. Pennell observed that "in the Spey, for instance, in Scotland, fish rise most freely 

 and as freely take the fly almost in the tideway which cotoes up but a short distance. In the 

 Wye, where the tide runs ten miles up, the fish do not take freely till they have run up seventy 

 miles. Does this result from the fact that the Spey fish are never in muddy Water ? the sea and 

 river being quite clear, and the bottom pebbly, whereas the fish come twenty miles up the 

 muddy Severn, and then have ten or more mOes of muddy Wye besides to run up before they 

 get to clear water. This may make them so sick that they do not recover before reaching the 

 Hay in Breconshire, and only above that, seventy miles from the mouth, do they take freely" 

 (Badminton Series, p. 181). 



