8 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



spawning season is over, when they fall back into 

 the Loch as spent fish. Comparatively few salmon 

 enter Loch Tay after May, as they prefer the 

 warmer waters of the Lyon and other tributaries, 

 and it may be contended that the comparative 

 scarcity of fish in Loch Tay during the summer 

 months is accounted for by the fact of the early fish 

 having returned to sea. Now, if they had returned 

 to sea, where do the fish which spawn in the 

 Dochart come from ? There '\s prima ^ facie evidence 

 that early-ascending fish do not return to sea un- 

 spawned, as many clean fish are caught by rods in 

 Loch Tay during the spring months, bearing un- 

 mistakable signs of having run up during the 

 previous autumn and winter, and I maintain that the 

 majority of fish which spawn in the Dochart are 

 identical with the early run. 



The River Helmsdale (Sutherlandshire) affords 

 some important evidence in relation to the spawning 

 of early-ascending salmon. Not many years ago, 

 netting began in that river on the nth of February, 



