IUDD'S JOURNAL. 



309 



it ; if there be no embryon, the egg will 

 be fresh as when first laid. Tn the former 

 case, carefully replace the eggs in the nest ; 

 in the latter, destroy them at once. 

 (To be Continued.) 



POPULAR DISCUSSIONS.* 



No. II.— THE SALMON. 



(Continued from page 293.) 

 Another recommendation of the writer 

 in the magazine — is, that close time should 

 commence in August ; instead of this, I would 

 recommend that it should begin when it now 

 does (15th September), and be extended to 

 the middle of April, for the following reasons. 

 There are many good fish running in the 

 first and second weeks of September, if the 

 water is in favorable condition ; and why 

 should not they be caught ? At all events, 

 angling ought to be tolerated for a time after 

 netting is prohibited. On the other hand, 

 the proportion of kelts (spawned fish), and 

 fish yet unspawned, is even in March very 

 much greater than the clean fish. In the 

 evidence given before the House of Commons 

 in 1825, it was stated by one of the fishermen 

 from the Tweed (I quote from memory, and 

 may therefore quote incorrectly), that for 

 one good fish caught up to the middle of 

 March, ten were caught as kelts or un- 

 spawned fish ; and in the Ribble, where there 

 used to be some salmon, I have seen a shoal 

 of 20 kipper (kelt) fish in the middle of 

 April. I have even seen some as late as 

 May. It may be said that this is of no con- 

 sequence, as the fishermen cannot legally 

 take these unclean fish ; but does any 

 fisherman allow one to escape? Few fish 

 are allowed to spawn here, and few of those 

 that do spawn ever get back to the sea. If 

 they were systematically allowed to do so, 

 they would in another year furnish a supply 

 of the largest and best fish; and therefore 

 my opinion is, that close time ought to be 

 extended to the middle of April, by which 

 time the kelts would mostly have returned 

 to the sea. There is one anomaly in the 

 natural history of the salmon, Avhich I have 

 never seen explained. The best fish are 

 said to be found in some rivers from October 

 to January — The Severn, the Ness, and the 

 Lee, are said to produce their best fish when 



* Under this head, we invite Contributions 

 similar to the present. The advent of our 

 Journal is, we know, hailed with delight by 

 many who take an intense interest in matters of 

 the kind; and it finds its way into so very many 

 channels at home and abroad, that the Discus- 

 sions likely to take place give promise of much 

 profitable as well as instructive entertainment. 

 Our columns are open to debate ; but conciseness 

 is recommended on all occasions. —Ed. K. J. 



in the generality of rivers they are uneatable ; 

 and a friend of mine, who was in London not 

 many weeks ago, told me that he saw there as 

 fine fish from the Severn as ever he saw in 

 his life. The evidence of the fishermen from 

 these rivers is too decisive to doubt, that 

 many good fish are taken in those rivers at a 

 time when none are seen in other rivers. 

 But those fishermen did not tell us (for I 

 don't remember that they were asked the 

 question) that in catching these good fish, 

 they destroyed ten unclean fish for one good 

 one. It is exceedingly probable that such fish 

 are caught ; because first, it is very unlikely 

 that fish in one river spawn at a different • 

 period to others ; that they don't do so in 

 the Severn is, I think, proved by the fact, 

 that the kelts are found at the same season 

 as in other rivers, and the smelts (salmon 

 fry) also migrate in May as they do else- 

 where. This being so, how is it that clean 

 fish are found there when they are not met 

 with elsewhere ? what is there in the water 

 of this river which induces these clean fish 

 to run, at a time when they don't do so in 

 other rivers ? This I can't explain ; it may 

 be that these rivers flow over strata which 

 are not so liable to foul the water — in short, 

 I don't know anything of the reason, but it 

 may be said, how does it happen that there 

 are clean fish at all in this season ? I reply, 

 because I don't think the salmon spawns an- 

 nually ; in April, when the kelts go down, 

 there is not, so far as I have observed, a 

 trace of spawn to be found in them, and yet 

 the clean fish which run in January and 

 February have the ovaria perfectly deve- 

 loped, and the roe at that time almost as large 

 as mustard seed ; and yet there is no reason 

 to think that these fish, supposing them to 

 stop in the river the whole time, would 

 spawn before the September or October fol- 

 lowing. 



When I lived on the banks of the Wharfe, 

 the fishermen used to catch trout all through 

 the winter, with night-lines and worms, in 

 the highest condition — the roe distinctly 

 visible, but very minute. A first-rate angler 

 used to remark to me, that the dishes of trout 

 he caught in January were in better con- 

 dition than those he caught in April, which 

 he accounted for in this way : he said only 

 the clean fish were rising in January, whereas 

 the spawned fish had begun to feed freely in 

 April; and there was a larger portion of 

 these kelt fish among those caught at that 

 time. If salmon spawn biennially and not 

 annually, we can understand why there are 

 clean fish whilst so large a proportion are 

 foul ; but we do not yet know why clean fish 

 enter the rivers at all. I am aware that it 

 is said that this is for the purpose of cleaning 

 themselves of the sea-lice that infest them in 

 salt water ; but that this is a mere conjecture 



