116 THE LIFE OF THE SALMON 
therefore, the young salmon in fresh water does not 
incline to feed freely in winter; and when the smolt 
stage is passed and the fish has reached the great 
feeding place—the sea—this peculiarity, which is 
shared with other fishes, is still obvious. In the 
formation and growth of the fish’s scales these 
periods of feeding and non-feeding are recorded, as 
we have seen ; while, with regard to the length of 
time during each summer in which the salmon 
continues to feed, it is found, both by observations as 
to food remains and by observations on the state of 
nutriment in the tissues of estuary fish, that feeding 
continues without cessation till September. 
An interesting letter bearing upon the subject of 
the food of the salmon was read by Dr. Dunlop, in 
his evidence before Lord Elgin’s Salmon Fisheries 
Commission. It was written by Mr. Rae, one time 
superintendent of the Duke of Richmond and 
Gordon’s fisheries, and is as follows: ‘‘ When salmon 
were boiled and kitted I had great facility for ob- 
serving the contents of their stomachs, and I have 
invariably found that in all places the character of 
their food, as a whole, has been the same. At 
Lochinver in 1847; Carloway, ‘in Lewes, in 1848, 
1849, 1850, and 1851; at Loch Ewe and Loch 
Broom in 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, I had 
occasion to open many thousands, and found that 
the principal contents were herrings. As many as 
half a dozen in one fish, more or less decomposed, in 
many cases reduced to pulp ; in others as many as six 
or eight herring bones decomposing. I also found 
sand-eels in many cases. . . .” Day mentions seeing 
