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Appendices to Fourth Annual Beport 



purposes. It is extremely difficult to obtain facts regarding sea-salmon 

 proper, or to distinguish them from the fish of the rivers in the vicinity of the 

 coast where they are captured. Mull and tlie other islands have rivers and 

 plenty of fish of their own, or else we might seek to ascertain what food they 

 are supplied with when they first make the south shores of Mull on their Avay 

 to Loch Linnhe. These fish are sent to the South untouched, and therefore 

 the question remains unanswered so far as we are concerned. But we wish 

 to direct special attention to the point, believing as we do that the salmon 

 goes to sea in pursuit of the herring, whose oily nature supplies the rich body 

 of the salmon with its heavy juices, until the fish becomes so gorged and 

 plethoric with its wealth of feeding that it becomes a prey to the parasite 

 that is ever ready provided to prey upon any rich constitution. This parasite, 

 and its instincts of reproduction, drive the body of fish from the rich feeding 

 grounds of the outer waters in towards the rivers, in which, although they 

 may swallow some trifling articles of food, they may yet be said to live upon 

 their plentiful fat until — reduced to famished and voracious skeletons — they 

 once more, as kelts, seek the outer waters, and the abundant herring harvest 

 that awaits their onslaught. 



The fact that a fish will return in six weeks to its native river many pounds 

 in weight additional, points to a rich and plentiful supply of nourishment, 

 that only this " rabbit of the sea," as it has been termed — the herring — prolific 

 and nutritious, could possibly supply to such vast shoals of large and 

 voracious fish. 



Had the salmon hunted in isolated bodies hke the small shoals of sea-trout, 

 that do not apparently go so very far out to sea, and are more readily 

 supplied with an omnivorous diet, it might have been possible to understand 

 theii- living on a mixed and widespread table. But their coming together in 

 such important bodies, increasing as they pass seaward, points to an important 

 food supply, that only the herring shoals, never absent from these outer 

 waters, can well be supposed to constitute. 



The study of the food of most animals goes a long way to elucidate the 

 principles that actuate their movements, and we wish to direct attention to the 

 apparent fact that the salmon returns to the rivers and streams with such a 

 store of vitality that it virtually carries them through the period of gestation 

 and spawning, and consequently what it may or may not eat in these waters 

 is a matter of trifling economic miport. "What we wish to discover is whether 

 facts have been or are forthcoming to settle if this noble fish preys, hke the 

 bulk of our food fishes, upon the herring, as thereb}^ Ave would arrive at 

 another definite principle whereby its movements could be somewhat 

 calculated. 



For the division of salmon in most rivers into spring, summer, and autumn 

 migrations may be necessitated by the difficulty of procuring nourishment for 

 the whole salmon population of a river in one great body, and through our 

 modes of fishing out certain migTations we may really be lessening the power 

 of a river, not by lessening its fish capacity, but by too great concentration of 

 the fish shoals, that ought naturally to be spread over the year. We have 

 looked upon the sea as inexhaustible, nor troubled ourselves about how or 

 where the sea-salmon can derive nourishment, but the salmon will doubtless 

 have arranged this to its own satisfaction long ere we set about altering the 

 conditions of the problem by unwise and inconsiderate fishing. 



In this connection it may be well to add that the sea-trout, wliile freely 

 devouring herring-sile, does not apparently return so plethoric, nor so capable 

 or willing to starve in fresh water. It is one of the most formidable enemies 

 of the salmon, eating it in quantities in the early stages ; and while the 

 youngsters can escape the voracity of the kelts by seeking shallow waters, the 

 sea-trout is only too well fitted to follow them thither. The undue protection 



