Only the fastest and the strongest will 
escape the bigger fish and the birds that 
are seeking a tasty mouthful. 
Some young salmon stay in the streams 
only a few months. But most do not go 
down to the sea or the lakes for more 
than a year. Some remain in their early 
home as long as three years. 
By the time the salmon are ready to 
go to sea, they have changed again. 
Their coats have become silvery, like 
the polished armor of a knight of old. 
Now they are called smolts. Although 
they may be several years old then, they 
weigh only a few ounces. Most of their 
growing will be done in the sea, when 
they will become grilse. 
It is in the sea that the mystery be¬ 
gins. No one really knows what the 
grilse do. Swiftly they grow large, 
strong of body, swift of fin. They are 
mighty hunters of the deep, feared by 
smaller fish. Perhaps they go way out 
29 
