THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 35 



and remain there until the spawning season is 

 over. 



I have endeavoured, so far, to describe the habits of 

 early running salmon which frequent a few of the 

 cold Northern rivers, and in my opinion the arguments 

 in regard to their habits hold good on other rivers all 

 over the kingdom. The early fish are similarly 

 affected by temperature in our southern rivers, where 

 the progress they make upstream is slow during 

 intense cold. In fact, under such circumstance, 

 they never travel to the upper waters until the 

 spring is well advanced and the warm weather has 

 set in. 



In regard to Irish waters, the whole business ap- 

 pears to be a different matter altogether, but it is not 

 so in reality. The climate of Ireland during the 

 winter and early spring is much warmer than it is in 

 England or Scotland, in fact it is often summer weather 

 in the extreme south long before vegetation is affected 

 by the sun in the North of Scotland. On that account 

 the temperature of the water is of course warmer in 



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