42 THE LIFE OF THE SALMON 
short, but the condition of the fish exceptionally 
poor. I noticed some grilse in Dundee market 
which were, without exception, the worst-conditioned 
grilse I have seen. On inquiry I found they had 
been sent to Dundee from elsewhere—for very 
shame, I imagined. In the same year some salmon 
on the north and east coasts, more especially about 
Caithness, were remarkably tasteless and dry in the 
flesh, and at the same time I noticed that the local 
herring tasted apparently of nothing so much as saw- 
dust. Now the presence of those poorly nourished 
grilse and salmon is noteworthy in two respects: 
first, simply because fish were entering rivers in a 
poorly nourished state (although some poor fish I had 
evidence of were caught in sea nets); and second, 
because the actual numbers of grilse were deficient. 
As a rule grilse on entering the mouths of rivers are 
found to be charged with nutriment, pyloric appen- 
dages loaded with fat, and stomach empty. At the 
mouth of the Tweed, Tosh and Grey * found 4 per 
cent. out of 231 male grilse and only |. per cent. out of 
188 female grilse with signs of recent feeding. Hoek 
at the mouth of the Rhine, examined 2000 fish, and 
found food in only seven. The highly nourished con- 
dition has been regarded as in itself sufficient reason 
for the ascent of fresh water. Dr. Noél Paton puts 
it thus:+ ‘When on the rich marine feeding 
grounds as great a store of nourishment as the body 
can carry has been accumulated, the fish returns to 
* Thirteenth Annual Report, Fishery Board for Scotland, 
Part II. Note 2. 
T+ “Investigations on the Life History of the Salmon,” 1898, 
Special Report, Fishery Board for Scotland. 
