PARR AND SMOLTS 



93 



angler may — quite innocently mistaking one kind for the other — incur the 

 considerable odium of a conviction. There are those who may contend 

 that he deserves to be punished for taking even trout of the size of 

 salmon parr and smolts, but there is in many districts no discredit in 

 taking trout of nine or ten inches in length, and I have seen sea-trout 

 parr and smolts of that size quite innocently, if unlawfully, captured by 

 anglers and put in the basket. Anything that will help to guide the 

 angler to a safe decision in cases of doubt will consequently be of 

 advantage. 



I am not sure that any author in this country has dealt very satis- 

 factorily with this matter, although a Norwegian author, Mr. Hartig 

 Hiiitfeldt-Ivaas, has tabulated certain more or less constant distinctions 

 between the young of salmon and trout. To tell the truth, it is by no 

 means easy to give a verbal description of such differences as may be 

 recognised between the several fish at their various stages of growth. 

 For convenience of reference I insert here a plate showing approxi- 

 mately the colouring and markings, when the fish are yearlings, 4f 

 inches in length, of (i) a trout, (2) a Loch Leven trout, (3) a sea-trout, 

 and (4) a salmon (Plate IV). As a first step, I shall try to indicate some 

 distinctions between a salmon parr and a young trout. 



One may start from the broad principle that if the angler is fishing 

 in waters which he knows contain salmon he is bound to be upon his 

 guard against taking their young. If he has any conscience at all in 

 the matter he will, after catching one or two of the smaller fish, be able 

 quite easily to detect that some of those he catches differ materially 

 from others. He may not be able to say at once wherein the difference 

 lies but he will be quite conscious that there is a difference. It will be 

 found, I think, to be one of colour. 



Young salmon, when held slanting to the light, have very obviously 

 a general bluish tinge ; young trout, when similarly held, appear to be 

 of a yellowish-brown colour. This difference is so marked that I 



