THE SCALES OF SALMON 109 
rivers, it would appear, however, that the extraordi- 
nary loss of kelts can be disregarded in the upkeep 
of stock. 
With us, it seems to me, the value of a kelt is 
not sufficiently recognised. Because a kelt is an 
unclean fish and very often a nuisance to the angler, 
the disposition frequently seems to be to treat the 
fish with contempt, to drag the hooks out of his 
mouth and to throw “the dirty brute” back any- 
how. I have seen a ghillie lift a kelt as a sea fisher- 
man commonly lifts a dead cod-fish, by sticking the 
thumb and middle finger into the two eye sockets. 
What chance of survival, one may ask, has a sickly 
kelt with bleeding gills, or one subjected to treat- 
ment as described? Bacillus salmonis pestis is 
waiting for him, and saprolegnia has every chance 
to flourish. The fish has been reproducing his species 
in the river, and is willing to do so again if he is 
only allowed to go to the sea and become once more 
a silvery clean salmon. If he is carefully handled, 
and not only treated with respect but decorated with 
a silver medal bearing a distinguishing number which 
corresponds with his weight and length at time of 
marking, he is, in my opinion, of much more value 
than a clean-run fish which is knocked on the head 
and put in the boiling pot. 
