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205 
which name it is also known in the Eden and the Esk, the 
Phinnock of the north and west of Scotland, the White or 
Phinnock of Pennant, and the Silver White of Tweed tacksmen. 
In the Solway Firth they commence their approach to the 
mouths of the rivers about the middle and towards the end 
of June, if the season has been remarkably dry, and perhaps 
a few days earlier if there has been much rain. From this 
time they continue running till about the end of August, 
when the greater part of the shoal is either past or taken. 
The height of the run, however, may be said to be about 
the last weeks of July, and their numbers at this time are 
almost incredible. In the rivers they are caught with the 
common sweep-nets, in the Firth by the stake-nets of small 
mesh, or, as they are called, Herling houses. Many hundreds 
are taken at once in each inclosure at every tide, and the 
whole neighbourhood is for a short time supplied with them. 
This abundance, with little exception, seems general wherever 
they are found. 
They enter the fresh waters for the great business of 
spawning, and I have observed that in the larger rivers the 
great body of the shoal leave the main stream and seek the 
smaller tributaries, and very few remain where the water 
continues strong and heavy. The spawning commences earlier 
than that of the Salmon,” (which my own observation has 
already shewn not to be the case in Cornwall,) “is of course 
sooner finished, and by the end of February almost the whole 
of the old fish have returned to the sea. The young T have 
never been able to see; it is probable, however, they are 
hatched earlier, and make their way to the salt water when 
of small size; and three or four months is a sufficient interval 
for them to have obtained the size and weight of their first 
appearance in the following June. It may be noticed as 
remarkable in the history of this fish, and at variance with 
tile habits of the other British Salmons, that from the return 
of the old fish, or Kelts, to the sea, not an individual is seen 
till the appearance of the great shoal; a few days before, as 
stragglers appear, and they are the signal of preparations being 
commenced for their destruction; but in the intervening four 
months, between March and the end of June, they are never 
to be met with;” a circumstance better explained by the 
