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SALMONIA. 
 
SALMONIA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 DAYS OF FLY FISHING. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE HABITS OF FISHES BELONGIN'G 
 TO THE GENUS SALMO. 
 
 By sir HUMPHEY DAVY, Bart. 
 
 ' Equidem credo quia sit divinitus illis 
 
 Ingenium." 
 
 FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1869. 
 
By the same Author. 
 
 CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL; OR, THE LAST DAYS 
 OF A PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 ^Seventh Edition, lllustrntions. Fcap. 8vo. 'is. 6(i. 
 
3)3 
 
 ADYEETISEJVIENT TO THE EOUETH 
 EDITIOJST. 
 
 This Edition is printed from a copy of Salmonia 
 which had been revised by the Author shortly before 
 his decease. The few alterations, additions, and 
 omissions which have been made, are either chiefly 
 from his dictation, or in compliance with instructions 
 expressed by him at the time. 
 
 Some Notes are subjoined and appended, most of 
 
 them relating to facts recently ascertained ; they are 
 
 distinguishea by being inserted in brackets, and by 
 
 the initials of the Editor. 
 
 J. D. 
 
 Leskkth How, Ambleside, 
 Dec. 7th, 1850. 
 
 ivi844807 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/accountsalmoniaOOdavyrich 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These pages formed the occupation of the Author 
 during some months of severe and dangerous iUiiess^ 
 when he was wholly incapable of attending to more 
 useful studies, or of following more serious pursuits. 
 They constituted his amusement in many hours which 
 otherwise AYOuld have been unoccupied and tedious ; 
 and they are published in the hope that they may 
 possess an interest for those persons who derive 
 pleasure from the simplest and most attainable kind 
 of rural sports, and who practise the art, or patronise 
 the objects of contemplation, of the Philosophical 
 Angler. 
 
 • The conversational manner and discursive style 
 were chosen as best suited to the state of health of 
 the Author, who was incapable of considerable efforts 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 and long-continued attention ; and he could not but 
 have in mind a model, which has fully proved the 
 utiHty and popularity of tliis method of treating the 
 subject — The Complete Angler y by Walton and Cotton. 
 
 The characters, chosen to support these Conversa- 
 tionSj are — Halieus, who is supposed to be an 
 accomplished fly-fisher; Ornitheii, who is to be 
 regarded as a gentleman generally fond of the sports 
 of the field, though not a finished master of the art 
 of angling ; Poietes, who is to be considered as an 
 enthusiastic lover of natui'e, and partially acquainted 
 with the mysteries of fly-fishing ; and Physicus, who 
 is described uninitiated as an angler, but as a person 
 fond of inquiries in natural history and philosophy. 
 
 These personages are of course imaginary, though 
 the sentiments attributed to them, the Author may 
 sometimes have gained from recollections of real 
 conversations with friends, from whose society much 
 of the happiness of his early life has been derived ; 
 and in the portrait of the character of Halieus, 
 given in the last dialogue, a likeness, he thinks, will 
 not fail to be recognised to that of the character of a 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 most estimable Physician, ardently beloved by his 
 friends, and esteemed and venerated by the public.* 
 
 He has limited his description of fish to the 
 varieties of the Salmo most usual in the fresh waters of 
 Europe, and which may be defined as a genus having 
 eight fins, the one above the tail fleshy, and without 
 spines. 
 
 It is to be hoped M. Cuvier^s new work on fishes 
 will supply accurate information on this genus, which 
 is still very imperfectly known. 
 
 Laybach, Illyria. 
 
 Sept. 30th, 1828. 
 
 [* That excellent man the late Dr. Babington, to whom the first 
 edition was dedicated, " in remembrance of some delightful days passed 
 in his society, and in gratitude for an uninterrupted friendship of a 
 quarter of a century." It should be kept in mind, however, that 
 it is in the last Dialogue only that the likeness is sustained. In the 
 other Dialogues, the personages are not to be identified with any 
 individuals entirely; though here and there, in the sentiments ex- 
 pressed, and the pursuits attributed to them, features of likeness of 
 distinguished friends of the Author may be traced. This is mentioned 
 as, notwithstanding the caution in the text, I have been more than 
 once asked who are the originals represented ; the disposition on the 
 part of readers seeming to be, to consider each throughout as a 
 portrait. — J. D.] 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 FIRST DAY. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Vindication of fly-fishing — Poem in praise of Walton — Distin- 
 guished anglers — Fishing a natural, philosophical, and 
 scientific pursuit — Scenery — Fish possessed of little sen- 
 sibility — Praise of fly-fishing — Field-sports related to natural 
 history — Proposed fishing excursion — Comparison of a river 
 to human life ........ 3 — 17 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 Trout-fishing — Flies — May-fly and gray-drake — Alder-fly — 
 Object of fishing — Escape of a fish after being hooked — Sense 
 of smelling in fish — Baits — The natural fly — Pricked trout — 
 Local habits of animals — Trout of the Colne — Throwing the 
 fly — Trout described — Spots on trout — Perch — Anecdote — 
 Haunts of trout — Evening fishing — Management of a fish 
 when hooked — Flies of diflferent seasons — Fishing season — 
 DiflFerence of the gillaroo from the common trout — Diminu- 
 tion of flies in some rivers — Gillaroo trout found only in 
 Ireland — Parr or samlet — Other varieties of trout — Dr. 
 Darwin — Experiment on trout by Mr. Tonkin of Polgaron 
 — Cause of the varieties of trout — Mule fish — Crossing the 
 breed — Impregnation of the ova of fish — Experiment of Mr. 
 Jacobi on this point — Causes that hasten or retard the 
 maturity of the ova — Why fish approach shallows to spawn 
 — Admiration of the designs of Providence . . 1 8 — 76 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THIRD DAY. 
 
 Morning fishing — Effect of shadows in fishing — Anecdotes illus- 
 trating the effect of sunshine — Swallows . . . 77 — 82 
 
 FOURTH DAY. 
 
 Scenery — Loch Maree — Eagles — The inn — The river Ewe — Sea 
 trout — Poaching Highlander — Salmon — Cause offish being 
 drowned — Salmon — Death by suffocation — Nature of pain — 
 Instances of death without pain — Sea trout — Crimping — The 
 dinner — The double snipe — Value of temperance in eating 
 and drinking — Wading in boots a bad practice — Salmon and 
 trout compared — Varieties of salmon . . . 83 — 114 
 
 FIFTH DAY. 
 
 Salmon fishing — Produce of a morning's sport — Rivers of Norway 
 and Sweden — English rivers — Salmon rivers — Scotch rivers 
 — Irish rivers — The Sabbath day — Instincts — Instincts to 
 animals what revelation is to man . . . . 115 — 148 
 
 SIXTH DAY. 
 
 Flies — Hooks — Salmon of the Ewe — Sense of smelling in 
 animals — Salmon fishing with parr — Food of salmon — Indi- 
 cations of rainy weather — Omens .... 149 — 16!) 
 
 SEVENTH DAY. 
 
 Grayling — Anatomy of the grayling — Grayling fishing — Scenery 
 — Habits of the grayling — Grayling rivers — Baits for gray- 
 ling — Generation of eels — Migration of eels — The conger 
 eel 170-200 
 
 EIGHTH DAY. 
 
 Scenery — Natural history — Origin of the common house-fly — 
 — Bees and ants — The libeliula — Ephemerae — Michaelmas 
 daisy — Humble bee — Thoughts on death, suggested by this 
 
 . 201—221 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 NINTH DAY. 
 
 FAGK 
 
 Fishing for hucho — Hereditary instinct — Causes of variety in 
 trout — Salmo hucho — Taking a salmo hucho — Resemblance 
 of the hucho to trout — Interior of the hucho examined — 
 Habits of the hucho — Pleasure of angling — Cockney fisher- 
 men — Lame hoy and his boats — Amusements — Sea serpent 
 — Kraken — Mermaid — Austrian method of conveying fish 
 — Education — The press — Effect of continuous fishing — 
 Difference of rivers — Angling for frogs — Water ouzel — 
 Umbla — Laveret — Organisation of the hucho — Craniology — 
 Fat and flesh of the hucho — Naturalisation of fish — The 
 Traun — Colour of water — Colour of the ocean — Waterfalls 
 —Reflections— The late Mr. B. West . . . 222—282 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 On the supposed cross-breed of the parr— On the scolopax — On 
 the vitality of fish, and how to prevent their lingering death — 
 On the senses of fishes — On the colouring of the salmonidse — 
 On the structure of stomach of the gillaroo trout — On the 
 parr — Queries relative to the natural history of the trout — 
 On the spawning localities of the charr — On the young trout 
 on quitting the egg — On the digestive powers and growth 
 of the salmonidse — On the rivers and water most favourable 
 to the grayling — Use of the scales of the eel — On the food of 
 the shelley, and its breeding-place .... 283 — 305 
 
LIST OF ENaEAYiisras. 
 
 PAG» 
 
 HEADS OF THE AUTHOR, DR. WOLLASTON, AND DR. BABTNGTON ^ 
 
 Trom Portraits 
 
 DENHAM 18 
 
 TROUT FROM THE COLNE 32 
 
 TROUT FROM THE WANDLE 37 
 
 GILLAROO — LOCH MELVIN 58 
 
 PARR, OR SAMLET 69 
 
 GREAT LAKE TROUT 63 
 
 EA TROUT — SALMO TRUTTA MARINA 83 
 
 SSALMON — SALMO SALAR 88 
 
 HALSTADT LAKE AND TOWN 115 
 
 THE TEME. — GROUNDS OF DOWNTON, FROM A SKETCH BT 
 
 MRS. STACKHOUSE ACTON 149 
 
 LEINTWARDINE, ON THE TEME, FROM A SKETCH BT MRS. 
 
 STACKHOUSE ACTON 170 
 
 GRAYLING 180, 182 
 
 DOWNTON CASTLE, ON THE TEME, FROM A SKETCH BT MRS. 
 
 STACKHOUSE ACTON 201 
 
 PnUYGANE^E, WITH THEIR IMITATIONS ON HOOIvS . . 210 
 
xvi LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 FA5B 
 
 EPHEMER-S;, WITH THEIR IMITATIONS ON HOOKS . . 212, 214 
 
 TRAUN FALL 222 
 
 SALMO HUCHO 231 
 
 CHARR OF WINDERMERE AND OF HAWES WATER, AND 
 
 GWYNIAD, OR SCHELLY, OF HAWES WATER . . .260 
 
 I3MBLA 262 
 
 GRtJNDTL I;AKE, UPPER AUSTRIA ...,>.. 282 
 
SALMONIA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 BAYS OF FLY FISHINa 
 
FIRST DAY. 
 HALIEUS—POIETES—PHYSICUS—ORNITHER, 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CONVERSATION — SYMPOSIAC. 
 
 Scene, London. 
 
 PHTS. — Halieus^ I dare say you know where this 
 excellent trout was caught : I never ate a better fish 
 of the kind. 
 
 b2 
 
8ALM0NIA. [first day. 
 
 HAL. — I ought to know, as it was this morning in 
 the waters of the Wandle, not ten miles from the 
 place where we sit, and it is tlirough my means that 
 you see it at table. 
 
 PHYS. — Of your own catching ? 
 
 HAL. — Yes, with the artificial fly. 
 
 PHYS. — I admire the fish, but I cannot admire the 
 art by which it was taken ; and I wonder how a man 
 of your active mind and enthusiastic character can 
 enjoy what appears to me a stupid and melancholy 
 occupation. 
 
 HAL. — I might as well wonder in my turn, that a 
 man of your discursive imagination and disposition to 
 contemplate should not admire this occupation, and 
 that you should venture to call it either stupid or 
 melancholy. 
 
 PHYS. — I have at least the authority of a great 
 moralist, Johnson, for its foUy. 
 
 HAL. — I wiU allow no man, however great a philo- 
 sopher, or moralist, to abuse an occupation he has not 
 tried ; and as well as I remember, this same illustrious 
 person praised the book and the character of the great 
 Patriarch of Anglers, Isaac Walton. 
 
 PHYS. — There is another celebrated man, however, 
 who has abused this your patriarch. Lord Byron, 
 and that in terms not very quahfied. He calls him, 
 as well as I can recoUect, ^^a quaint old cruel cox- 
 
FIRST DAY.] ISAAC WALTON. 6 
 
 comb/^ * I must saj^ a practice of tliis great fisher- 
 man, where he recommends you to pass the hook 
 through the body of a frog with care, as though you 
 loved him, in order to keep him alive longer, cannot 
 but be considered as cruel. 
 
 HAL. — I do not justify either the expression or the 
 practice of AValton in this instance ; but remember, / 
 fish only with inanimate baits, or imitations of them, 
 and I will not exhume or expose the ashes of the 
 dead, nor vindicate the memory of Walton, at the 
 expense of Byron, who, like Johnson, was no fisher- 
 man : but the moral and religious habits of Walton, 
 his simplicity of manners, and his well- spent life, 
 exonerate him from the charge of cruelty; and the 
 book of a coxcomb would not have been so great 
 a favourite with most persons of refined taste. A 
 noble lady, long distinguished at court for pre- 
 eminent beauty and grace, and whose mind possesses 
 undying charms, has written some lines in my copy 
 of Walton, Avhich, if you will allow me, I will repeat 
 to you : 
 
 Albeit, gentle Angler, I 
 Delight not in thy trade, 
 
 * From Don Juan, Canto xii. Stanza cvr. 
 
 " And angling, too, that solitary vice, 
 
 Whatever Izaac Walton sings or says : 
 The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet 
 Should have a hook and a small trout to pull it.*' 
 
SALMONIA. [first DAr. 
 
 Yet in thy pages there doth lie 
 So much of quaint simplicity, 
 
 So much of mind, 
 
 Of such good kind, 
 That none need be afrnid. 
 Caught by thy cunning bait, this book. 
 To be ensnared on thy hook. 
 
 Gladly from thee, Fm lured to bear 
 
 With things that seem'd most vile before. 
 For thou didst on poor subjects rear 
 Matter the wisest sage might hear. 
 And with a grace, 
 That doth efface 
 More laboured works, thy simple lore 
 Can teach us that thy skilful lines. 
 More than the scaly brood confines* 
 
 Our hearts and senses, too, we see. 
 Rise quickly at thy master hand. 
 And, ready to be caught by thee, 
 Are lured to virtue willingly. 
 Content and peace, 
 With health and ease. 
 Walk by thy side. At thy command 
 We bid adieu to worldly care. 
 And joy in gifts that all may share. 
 
 Gladly, with thee, I pace along. 
 And of sweet fancies dream ; 
 Waiting till some inspired song, 
 Within my memory cherish'd long, 
 Comes fairer forth. 
 With more of worth, 
 Because that time upon its stream 
 Feathers and chaff will bear away. 
 But give to gems a brighter ray. 
 
 C.C. 1812. 
 
FIRST DAY.] AUTHORITIES FOR ANGLING. 7 
 
 And though the charming and intellectual author of 
 tliis poem is not an angler herself, yet I can quote the 
 example of her lovely daughters to vindicate fly-fishing 
 from the charge of cruelty, and to prove that the most 
 delicate and refined minds can take pleasure in this 
 innocent amusement. One of these young ladies, I 
 am told, is a most accomplished and skilful salmon 
 fisher. And if you require a poetical authority against 
 that of Lord Byron, I mention the philosophical and 
 powerful poet of the lakes, and the author of 
 
 " An Orphic tale indeed, 
 A tale divine, of high and passionate thoughts, 
 To their own music chanted ; " * 
 
 who is a lover both of fly-fishing and fly-fishermen. 
 Ga/s poem you know, and his passionate fondness for 
 the amusement, which w^as his principal occupation in 
 the summer at Amesbury ; and the late excellent John 
 Tobin, author of the Honey Moon, was an ardent 
 angler. 
 
 PHYS. — I am satisfied with your poetical authorities. 
 
 HAL. — ^Nay, I can find authorities of all kinds, 
 statesmen, heroes, and philosophers. I can go back 
 to Trajan, who was fond of angling. Nelson was t a 
 
 * The Friend, page 303, hy S. T. Coleridge. 
 •|* I have known a person who fished with him at Merton, in the 
 Wan die. I hope this circumstance will he mentioned in the next 
 edition of that most exquisite and touching Life of our Hero, hy the 
 Laureate, an immortal monument raised by Genius to Valour. 
 
SALMONIA. [first day. 
 
 good fly-fislier, and as a proof of his passion for it, 
 continued the pursuit even with his left hand. Dr. 
 Paley was ardently attached to this amusement; so 
 much so, that when the Bishop of Durham inquired 
 of him, when one of his most important works would 
 1)6 finished, he said, with great simpUcitj and good 
 humour, " My Lord, I shall work steadily at it when 
 the fly-fishuig season is over,^' as if this were a busi- 
 ness of his life. And I am rather reserved in intro- 
 ducing living characters, or I could give a Kst of the 
 highest names of Britain, belonging to modern times, 
 in science, letters, arts, and arms, who are ornaments 
 of this fraternity, to use the expression borrowed from 
 the freemasonry of our forefathers. 
 
 PHYS. — I do not find much difficulty in understand- 
 ing why warriors, and even statesmen, fishers of men, 
 many of whom I have known particularly fond of 
 hunting and shooting, should likewise be attached to 
 angling ; but I own, I am at a loss to find reasons for 
 a love of tliis pursuit amongst pliilosophers and poets, 
 
 HAL. — The search after food is an instinct belong- 
 ing to our nature ; and from the savage in his rudest 
 and most primitive state, who destroys a piece of game, 
 or a fish, with a club or spear, to man in the most 
 cultivated state of society, who employs artifice, ma- 
 chinery, and the resources of various other animals, to 
 secure his object, the origin of the pleasure is similar. 
 
FiKST DAT.] PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 9 
 
 and its object the same ; but that kind of it requiring 
 most art may be said to characterise man in his highest 
 or intellectual state; and the fisher for salmon and 
 trout with the fly employs not only machinery to 
 assist his physical powers, but applies sagacity to 
 conquer difficulties; and the pleasure derived from 
 ingenious resources and devices, as well as from active 
 pursuit, belongs to this amusement. Then, as to its 
 pliilosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral disci- 
 pline, requiring patience, forbearance, and command 
 of temper. As connected with natural science, it may 
 be vaunted as demanding a knowledge of the habits of 
 a considerable tribe of created beings — fishes, and the 
 animals that they prey upon, and an acquaintance with 
 the signs and tokens of the weather and its changes, 
 the nature of waters, and of the atmosphere. As to 
 its poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild 
 and beautiful scenery of nature, amongst the moun- 
 tain lakes, and the clear and lovely streams that gush 
 from the higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make 
 their way through the cavities of calcareous strata. 
 How delightful in the early spring, after the dull and 
 tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear and 
 the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander 
 forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting 
 from the purple bud, to scent the odours of the bank 
 perfumed by the violet, and enamelled, as it were. 
 
10 SALMON I A, [FIRST DAT. 
 
 with the primrose and the daisy ; to wander upon the 
 fresh turf below the shade of trees, whose bright 
 blossoms are filled with the music of the bee ; and 
 on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies 
 sparkhng like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst 
 the bright and beautiful trout is watcliing them from 
 below ; to hear the twittering of the water-birds, who, 
 alarmed at your approach, rapidly hide themselves 
 beneath the flowers and leaves of the water-lily; and 
 as the season advances, to find all these objects 
 changed for others of the same kind, but better and 
 brighter, till the swallow and the trout contend as it 
 were for the gaudy May-fly, and till in pursuing your 
 amusement in the calm and balmy evening, you are 
 serenaded by the songs of the cheerful thrush and 
 melodious nightingale, performing the offices of pater- 
 nal love, in thickets ornamented with the rose and 
 woodbine. 
 
 PETS. — ^All these enjoyments might be obtained 
 without the necessity of torturing and destroying an 
 unfortunate animal, that the true lover of nature 
 would wish to see happy in a scene of loveliness. 
 
 HAL. — If all men were Pythagoreans and professed 
 the Bralnnin^s creed, it would undoubtedly be cruel 
 to destroy any form of animated life ; but if fish are to 
 be eaten, I see no more harm in capturing them by skill 
 and ingenuity with an artificial fly, than in pulling 
 
FIH8T DAY.l SENSIBILITY OF FISH. 11 
 
 them out of the water by main force with the net ; 
 and in general when taken by the common fisherman, 
 fish are permitted to die slowly, and to suffer in the 
 air, from the want of their natural element; whereas, 
 every good angler, as soon as his fish is landed, either 
 destroys his life immediately, if he is wanted for food, 
 or returns him into the water. 
 
 PHYS. — But do you think nothing of the torture of 
 the hook, and the fear of capture, and the misery of 
 struggling against the powerful rod ? 
 
 HAL. — I have abeady admitted the danger of 
 analysing, too closely, the moral character of any of 
 our field-sports; yet I think it cannot be doubted 
 that the nervous system of fish, and cold-blooded 
 animals in general, is less sensitive than that of warm- 
 blooded animals. The hook usually is fixi^d in the 
 cartilaginous part of the mouth, where there are no 
 nerves ; and a proof that the sufi'erings of a hooked 
 fish cannot be great is found in the circumstance, that 
 though a trout has been hooked and played for some 
 minutes, he will often, after his escape with the arti- 
 ficial fly in his mouth, take the natural fly, and feed 
 as if nothing had happened ; having apparently learnt 
 only from the experiment, that the artificial fly is not 
 proper food. And I have caught pikes with four or 
 five hooks in their mouths, and tackle, which they had 
 broken only a few minutes before; and the hooks 
 
12 SALMOmA. [FIRST DAY. 
 
 seemed to have liad no other effect than that of serving 
 as a sort of sauce ^iquante, urging them to seize 
 another morsel of the same kind. 
 
 PHYS. — Eishes are mute, and cannot plead, even in 
 the way that birds and quadrupeds do, their own 
 cause ; yet the instances you qtiote only prove the 
 intense character of their appetites, which seem not so 
 moderate as Whiston imagined, in his strange philoso- 
 phical romance on the Deluge ; in which he supposes, 
 that in the antediluvian world the heat was much 
 greater than in this, and that all terrestrial and aerial 
 animals had their passions so exalted by this high 
 temperature, that they were lost in sin, and destroyed 
 for their crimes ; but that fish living in a cooler 
 element, were more correct in their lives, and were 
 therefore spared from the destruction of the primitive 
 world. You have proved, by your examples, the 
 intensity of the appetite of hunger in fishes ; Spalanzani 
 has given us another proof of the violence of a different 
 appetite, or instinct, in a cold-blooded animal, that 
 has most of the habits of the genus — ^the frog ; which, 
 in the breeding season, remains attached to the female, 
 though a limb, or even his head, is removed from the 
 body. 
 
 HAL. — This is likewise in favour of my argument, 
 that the sensibility of this class of animals to physical 
 pain is comparatively small. 
 
FIRST DAY.] AGREEABLENESS OF ANGLING. 13 
 
 PHYS. — The advocates for a favourite pursuit never 
 want sophisms to defend it. I have even heard it 
 asserted, that a hare enjoys being hunted. Yet I will 
 allow that fly-fishing, after your vindication, appears 
 amongst the least cruel of field-sports : — I can go no 
 farther; as I have never thought of trying it, I can 
 say notliing of its agreeableness as an amusement, 
 compared with hunting and shooting. 
 
 HAL. — I wish that you would allow me to convince 
 you, that for a contemplative man, as you are, and a 
 lover of nature, it is far superior, more tranquil, more 
 philosophical, and, after the period of early youth, 
 more fitted for a moderately active body and mind, 
 requiring less violent exertion; and pursued with 
 discretion, affording an exercise conducive to health. 
 There is a river, only a few miles off, where I am sure 
 I could obtain permission for you, and our friend 
 Poietes, to fish. 
 
 PHYS. — I am open to conviction on all subjects, 
 and have no objection to spend one May-day with you 
 in tliis idle occupation ; premising, that you take at 
 least one other companion, who really loves fishing. 
 
 HAL. — You, who are so fond of natural liistory, 
 even should you not be amused by fishing, will, I am 
 sure, find objects of interest on the banks of the river. 
 
 PHYS. — I fear I am not entomologist enough to 
 follow the life of the May-fly, but I shall willingly 
 
14 SALMONIA. [first day. 
 
 have my attention directed to its habits. Indeed^ I 
 have often regretted that sportsmen were not fonder 
 of zoology ; they have so many opportunities, which 
 other persons do not possess, of illustrating the origin 
 and quahties of some of the most curious forms of 
 animated nature, the causes and character of the 
 migrations of animals, their relations to each other, 
 and their place and order in the general scheme of the 
 universe. It has always appeared to me, that the two 
 great sources of change of place of animals, were the 
 providing of food for themselves, and resting-places 
 and food for their young. The great supposed migra- 
 tions of herrings from the pole to the temperate zone 
 have appeared to me to be only the approach of 
 successive shoals from deep to shallow water, for the 
 purpose of spawning. The migrations of salmon and 
 trout are evidently for the purpose of depositing their 
 ova, or of finding food after they have spawned. 
 Swallows, and bee-eaters, decidedly pursue flies over 
 half the globe. The scolopax or snipe tribe, in lite 
 manner, search for worms and larvae, — ^flying from 
 those countries where either frost or dryness prevents 
 them from boring, — making generally small flights at 
 a time, and resting on their travels where they find 
 food. And a journey from England to Africa is no 
 more for an animal that can fly, with the wind, one 
 hundred miles in an hour, than a journey for a 
 
FIRST DAY. MIGRATIONS OF FISHES. 15 
 
 Londoner to his seat in a distant province. And the 
 migrations of smaller fishes or birds always occasion 
 the migration of larger ones, that prey on them. 
 Thus, the seal follows the salmon, in summer, to the 
 mouths of rivers ; the hake follows the herring and 
 pilchard; hawks are seen in great quantities, in the 
 month of May, coming into the east of Europe, after 
 quails and land-rails; and locusts are followed by 
 numerous birds, that, fortunately for the agriculturist, 
 make them their prey. 
 
 HAL. — It is not possible to follow the amusement of 
 angling, without having your attention often directed 
 to the modes of life of fishes, insects, and birds, and 
 many curious and interesting facts, as it were, forced 
 upon your observation. I consider you {PJipicus), 
 as pledged to make one of our fisliing party ; and I 
 hope, in a few days, to give you an invitation to meet 
 a few worthy friends on the banks of the Colne. And 
 you {Poietes), who, I know, are an initiated disciple 
 of Walton^s school, will, I trust join us. We will 
 endeavour to secure a fine day ; two hours, in a light 
 carriage with good horses, will carry us to our ground ; 
 and I think I can promise you green meadows, shady 
 trees, the song of the nightingale, and a full and a 
 clear river. 
 
 POIET. — This last is, in my opinion, the most poeti- 
 cal object in nature. I will not fail to obey your 
 
16 8ALM0NIA. [first dax-. 
 
 summons. Pliny has, as well as I recollect, compared 
 a river to human life. I have never read the passage 
 in his works, but I have been a hundred times struck 
 with the analogy, particularly amidst mountain scenery. 
 The river, small and clear in its origin, gushes forth 
 from rocks, falls into deep glens, and wantons and 
 meanders through a wild and picturesque country, 
 nourisliing only the uncultivated tree or flower by its 
 dew or spray. In this, its state of infancy and youth, 
 it may be compared to the human mind in which fancy 
 and strength of imagination are predominant ; — ^it is 
 more beautiful than useful. When the different rills 
 or torrents join, and descend into the plain, it becomes 
 slow and stately in its motions ; it is applied to move 
 machinery, to irrigate meadows, and to bear upon its 
 bosom the stately barge ; — in this mature state, it is 
 deep, strong, and useful. As it flows on towards the 
 sea, it loses its force and its motion, and at last, as it 
 were, becomes lost, and mingled with the mighty 
 abyss of waters. 
 
 HAL. — One might pursue the metaphor still further, 
 and say, that in its origin — its thundering and foam, 
 when it carries down clay from the bank, and becomes 
 impure, it resembles the youthful mind, affected by 
 dangerous passions. And the influence of a lake, in 
 calming and clearing the turbid water, may be com- 
 pared to the effect of reason in more mature life, when 
 
FIRST UAV.J FLIES. 17 
 
 the tranquil, deep, cool and nnimpassioned mind is 
 freed from its fever, its troubles, bubbles, noise and 
 foam. And, above all, the sources of a river — ^which 
 may be considered as belonging to the atmosphere — 
 and its termination in the ocean, may be regarded as 
 imaging the divine origin of the human mind, and its 
 being ultimately returned to and lost in the Infinite 
 and Eternal Intelligence from which it originally 
 sprung. 
 
SECOND DAY. 
 HALIEUS—POIETES—ORNITHER—PHYSICUS. 
 
 TROUT FISHING, DENHAM. — MAY, 1810. 
 
 Morning, 
 
 HAL. — I am delighted to see jou, my worthy friends, 
 on the banks of the Colne ; and am happy to be able 
 to say, that my excellent host has not only made you 
 free of the river for this day's angling, but insists 
 upon your dining with him, — wishes you to try the 
 evening fishing, and the fishing to-morrow morning, — 
 and proposes to you, in short, to give up twenty-four 
 hours to the delights of an angler's May-day. 
 
SECOND DAT.] FLIES. 19 
 
 POIET, — We are deeply indebted to him ; and I 
 hardly know how we can accept his offer^ without 
 laying ourselves under too great an obligation. 
 
 HA L. — Pear not : he is as noble-minded a man as 
 ever delighted in good offices; and so benevolent, 
 that I am sure he will be almost as happy in knowing 
 you are amused, as you can be in your sport j and he 
 hopes for an additional satisfaction in the pleasure of 
 your conversation. 
 
 POIET. — So let it be. 
 
 HAL. — I will take you to the house; you shall 
 make your bow, and then you will be all free to follow 
 your own fancies. Eemember, the dinner hour is 
 five; the dressing bell rings at half-past four; be 
 punctual to this engagement, from which you will be 
 free at seven. 
 
 POIET, — ^This is really a very charming villa scene, 
 I may almost say, a pastoral scene. ^J'he meadows 
 have the verdure which even the Londoners enjoy as 
 a peculiar feature of the EngHsh landscape. The 
 river is clear, and has all the beauties of a trout stream 
 of the larger size, — there rapid, and here still, and 
 there tumbling in foam and fury over abrupt dams 
 upon clean gravel, as if pursuing a natural course. 
 And that island with its poplars and willows, and the 
 flies making it their summer paradise, and its little 
 fishing-house, are all in character; and if not ex- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 SALMONIA. [secoxd day. 
 
 tremelj picturesque, it is at least a very pleasant scene, 
 from its verdure and pure waters, for the lovers of our 
 innocent amusement. 
 
 HAL. — It is ten o'clock : you may put up your rods, 
 or take rods from the hall; for so hospitable is the 
 master of this mansion, that everything is sappUed 
 to our hands. And Physicus, as you are the only one 
 of our party ignorant of the art of fly-fisliing, I will 
 fit you with a rod and flies ; and let me advise you 
 to begin with a Une shorter than your rod, and throw 
 at first slowly and without effort, and imitate us as 
 well as you can. As for precepts, they are of Httle 
 value ; practice and imitation will make you an angler. 
 
 POIET. — I shall put together my rod, and fish with 
 my own flies. It may be fancy, but I always think 
 I do best with tackle with which I am used to fish. 
 
 HAL. — You are right ; for fancy is always something: 
 and when we believe that we can do things better in a 
 particular way, we really do, by the influence of imagi- 
 nation, perform them both better and with less effort. 
 I agree with moralists, that the standard of virtue should 
 be placed higher than any one can reach ; for in trying 
 to rise, man will attain a more excellent state of being 
 than if no effort were made. But to our business. As 
 far as the perfection of the material for the angler is 
 concerned, the flies you find on tliis table are as good 
 as can be made, and for this season of the year, there 
 
SECOND PAY.] FLIES. 21 
 
 is no great variety on this river. We have had lately 
 some warm days, and though it is but the 18th of 
 May, yet I know the May-fly has been out for three 
 or four days, and this is the best period of this destruc- 
 tive season for the fisherman. There are, I observe, 
 many male flies on the liigh trees, and some females 
 on the alders. 
 
 PHYS. — But 1 see flies already on the water, which 
 seem of various colours, — brown and gray, and some 
 very pale, — and the trout appear to rise at 'them 
 eagerly. 
 
 HAL. — The fly you see is called by fishermen the 
 alder fly, and appears generally in large quantities 
 before the May-fly. Imitations of this fly, and of 
 the green and the gray drake, of different shades, are 
 the only ones you will need this morning, though I 
 doubt if the last can be much used, as the gray drake 
 is not yet on the water in any quantity. 
 
 PHTS. — Pray can you give us any account of these 
 curious little animals ? 
 
 HAL. — ^^^^e ought to draw upon your stores of 
 science for information on these subjects. 
 
 PHYS. — I really know nothing of Entomology, but 
 I am desirous of acquiring knowledge. 
 
 HAL. — I have made few observations on flies as a 
 plulosophical naturalist. "What I know I will state 
 at another time. But see, the green drake is descending 
 
22 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 upon the water, and some are leaving the alders to 
 sport in the sunshine, and to enjoy the pleasures of 
 their brilliant, though short existence ; and their life, 
 naturally ephemeral, is made one of scarcely a moment, 
 by the fishes and birds : that which the swallow or the 
 duck spares is caught by the fish. The fly is new, 
 and in the imitation, I recommend the olive tint, or 
 what the Irish call the green monkey ; — that is, an 
 artificial fly, with a wing of dyed yellow drake^s 
 feather, a body of yellow monke/s fur, and a small 
 quantity of olive mohair for legs. Por myself, I shall 
 fish for some time with a large red alder-fly, and I 
 dare say, M'ith as much success ; — ^that is, with a fly 
 with a dark peacock's harle for body, a red hackle 
 for legs, and wings of the land-rail below, and starling 
 above. 
 
 POIET. — The water is quite in motion : what noble 
 fish I see on the feed ! I never beheld a finer sight, 
 though I have often seen the May-fly on well-stocked 
 waters. 
 
 HAL. — This river is most strictly preserved; not a fish 
 has been kiUed here since last August, and this is the 
 moment when the large fish come to the surface, and 
 leave their cad bait search and minnow hunting. But I 
 have hardly time to talk ; I have hold of a good fiish : 
 they take either the alder or May-fly, and having never 
 been fished for this year, they make no distinction, and 
 
SECOND DAY.] BAITS. 23 
 
 greedily seize any small object in motion on the water. 
 Yoa see the alder-fly is quite as successful as the May- 
 fly; but there is a fish which has refused it, and because 
 he has been feeding, glutton-like, on the May-fly : 
 that is the fifth he has swallowed in a minute. Now 
 I shall throw the drake a foot above him. It floats 
 down, and he has taken it. A flne flsh ; I think at 
 least 4 lbs. This is the largest fish we have yet seen, 
 but in the deep water still lower down, there are still 
 greater fish. One of 5 lbs. I have known taken here, 
 and once a fish a little short only of 6 lbs. 
 
 POIET. — I have just landed a fish which I suppose 
 you will consider as a small one ; yet I am tempted 
 to kill him. 
 
 HAL, — He is not a fish to kill ; tln:ow him back, he 
 is much under 2 lbs., and, as I ought to have told you. 
 before, we are not allowed to kill any fish of less size ; 
 and I am sure we shall all have more than we ought 
 to carry away even of this size. Pray put him into 
 the well, or rather give him to the fisherman to turn 
 back into the water. 
 
 POIET. — I cannot say I approve of this manner of 
 fishing ; I lose my labour. 
 
 HAL. — As the object of your fishing, I hope, i^ 
 innocent amusement, you can enjoy this, and show 
 your skill in catching the animal ; and if every fish 
 that took the May-fly were to be killed, there would 
 
24 SALMONIA. [secoxd day. 
 
 be an end to tlie sport in the river, for none would 
 remain for next year. 
 
 PHYS. — The number of flies seems to increase as 
 the day advances, and I never saw a more animated 
 water scene : all nature seems alive ; even the water- 
 wagtails have joined the attack upon these helpless 
 and lovely creations from the waters. 
 
 HAL. — It is noAT one o'clock ; and between twelve 
 and tlu-ee is the time when the May-fly rises with 
 most vigour. It is a very warm day, and with such 
 a quantity of fly, every fish in the river wiU probably 
 be soon feeding. See, below the wear, there are two 
 large trout lately come out ; and from the quiet w^ay 
 in which they swallow their prey, and from the size 
 of the tranquil undulation that follows their rise, I 
 suspect they are the giants of this river. Try if you 
 cannot reach them : one is near the bank in a con- 
 venient place for a throw, for the water is sufficiently 
 rough to liide the deception, and these large fish do 
 not take the fly well in calm water, though va\\\ 
 natural flies on the hook they might all be raised. 
 
 POIET. — I have him ! Alas ! he has broken me, 
 and carried away half my bottom hue. He must have 
 been a fish of 7 or 8 lbs. "Wliat a dash he made ! 
 He carried off my fly by main force. 
 
 HAL. — You should have allowed your reel to play 
 and your line to run : you held him too tight. 
 
gacoNDDAY.] THE NATURAL FLY. 25 
 
 POIET, — He was too powerful a tish for my tackle; 
 and even if I had done so, would probably have 
 broken me by running amongst the weeds. 
 
 HAL. — Let me tell you, my friend, you should 
 never allow a fish to run to the weeds, or to strike 
 across the stream ; you should carry him always down 
 stream, keeping his head high, and in the current. 
 If in a weedy river you allow a large fish to run up 
 stream, you are almost sure to lose him. There, I 
 have hooked the companion of your lost fish on the 
 other side of the stream, — a powerful creature : he 
 tries, you see, to make way to the weeds, but I hold 
 him tight. 
 
 POIET. — ^I see you are obliged to run with him, 
 and have carried liim safely through the weeds. 
 
 HAL. — I have him now in the rapids on the shallow, 
 and I have no fear of losing him, unless he strikes the 
 hook out of his mouth. 
 
 POIET. — He springs again and again. 
 
 HAL. — He is off; in one of these somersets he 
 detached the steel, and he now leaps to celebrate his 
 escape. We will leave this place, where there are 
 more great fish, and return to it after a while, 
 when the alarm produced by our operations has 
 subsided. 
 
 PH7S. — ^That fish take the artificial fly at all is 
 lather surprising to me, for in its most perfect form 
 
26 8ALM0NIA. [secoxd day. 
 
 it is but a rude imitation of nature ; and from the 
 greedy manner in which it is seized, fish, I think, 
 cannot possess a refined sense of smell, or any nervous 
 system corresponding to the nasal one in animals that 
 breathe air ; no scent can be given to water by an 
 artificial fly, or, at least, none like that of the natural fly. 
 HAL. — The principal use of the nostrils in fishes, T 
 believe, is to assist in the propulsion of water through 
 the gills for performing the oflice of respiration ; but I 
 think there are some nerves in these organs which 
 give fishes a sense of the qualities of the water, or of 
 substances dissolved in, or diffused through it, similar 
 to our sense of smell, or, perhaps, rather our sense of 
 taste, for there can be no doubt that fishes are attracted 
 by scented pastes and scented worms, wliich are some- 
 times used by anglers that employ ground-baits ; and 
 in old angling-books there are usually receipts for 
 attracting fish in tliis manner, and though the absurdity 
 of many of these prescriptions is manifest, yet I do 
 not think this proves that they are entirely useless, 
 for, upon such principles, all the remedies for diseases 
 in the old pharmacopoeias would be null.* 
 
 * [That the olfactory nerves in fishes are destined for the same 
 function as these nerves in the mammalia, seems hardly to admit of 
 doubt, especially considering the fact, that we can perceive odours 
 when the head is immersed in water : this is easily proved by plunging 
 the head in water to which some eau-de-Cologne or other scent has 
 been added ; on drawing in the water through the nostrils, the peculiar 
 odour (as I have ascertained) is distinctly perceived. — J. D.] 
 
SECOND DAY.] PRICKED TROUT. 27 
 
 With respect to tlie flj^ as it usually touches the 
 
 stream by a very small surface^ that of the air-bubbles 
 
 on the fringes on its legs^ it can scarcely affect the 
 
 water so as to give it any power of communicating 
 
 smell. And as you have seen, a ripple or motion on 
 
 the water is necessary to deceive fishes ; and as they 
 
 look at the fly from below, they see distinctly only 
 
 the legs and body, which, when the colours are like 
 
 those of the natural fly, may easily deceive them; 
 
 the wings, which are the worst imitated parts of the 
 
 artificial fly, seldom appear to them, except through 
 
 the different refractive power of the moving water 
 
 and the atmosphere, and when immersed, they form 
 
 masses not unlike the wings of a drowned fly, or one 
 
 wetted in rising.* 
 
 ***** 
 
 It is now a quarter of an hour since we left the 
 
 large pool: let us return to it; I see the fish are 
 
 again rising. 
 
 * [In confirmation of the above view, an anecdote may be given 
 illustrating the discriminating power of the trout, communicated in 
 conversation by the excellent author of " The British Fishes." 
 In the neighbourhood of Gravesend, in a cottage-garden, some Trouts 
 have been kept, which have become almost tame and of large size, 
 which visitors are in the habit of feeding for amusement. Frogs 
 which Mr. Yarrell had thrown in, for want of other food to give 
 them, they seized instantly, and swallowed unhesitatingly, — but not 
 so, a toad ; when it was thrown in, they dashed towards it, but retreated 
 before touching it, leaving it afterwards free and unmolested, as if aware 
 of iis "sweltered venom."^ — J. D.] 
 
28 SALMON! A. [second day. 
 
 POIET. — I am astonished ! It appears to me that 
 tlie very same fisli are again feeding. There are two 
 fish rising nearly in the same spot where they rose 
 before ; can they be the same fish ? 
 
 HAL. — It is very possible. It is not likely that three 
 other fish of that size should occupy the same haunts. 
 
 POIET. — But I thought after a fish had been hooked, 
 he remained sick and sulky for some time, feeKng liis 
 woimds uncomfortable. 
 
 HAL. — The fish that I hooked is not rising in the 
 same place, and therefore, probably, was hurt by the 
 hook; but one of these fish seems to be the same 
 that carried off your fly, and it is probable that the 
 hook only struck him in a part of the mouth where 
 there are no nerves ; and that he suffered little at the 
 moment, and does not now feel liis annoyance. 
 
 POIET. — I have seen him take four or ^yq flies : 
 I shall throw over him. There, he rose, but refused 
 the fly. He has at least learnt, from the experiment 
 he has made, to distinguish the natural from the 
 artificial fly. 
 
 HAL. — This, I think, always happens after a fish 
 has been hooked with an artificial fly. He becomes 
 cautious, and is seldom caught that year, at least 
 with the same means in the same pool : but I dare 
 say that fish might be taken with a natural fly ; or, 
 what is better, two upon the hook. 
 
SECOND DAY.] TROUT OF THE COLNE. 29 
 
 POIET. — Pray try him. 
 
 HAL. — I am no artist at this kind of angling, but 
 Ornither I know has fished in June with the clubs 
 at Stockbridge, where this method of fishing is usual. 
 Pray let liim try his fortune, though it is hardly fair 
 play; and it is rather to endeavour to recover your 
 tackle, than for the sake of the fish, that I encourage 
 liim to make the essay. 
 
 POIET. — Pray make no apologies for the trial. 
 Such a fish — certainly a monster for tliis river — 
 should be caught by fair means, if possible, but caught 
 by any means. 
 
 ORN. — You lost that fish, and you overrate his size, 
 as you will see, if I have good luck. I put my live 
 flies on the hook with some regret and some disgust. 
 I will not employ another person to be my minister 
 of cruelty, as I remember a lady of fashion once did, 
 who was very fond of fishing for perch, and who 
 employed her daughter, a little girl of nine years of 
 age, to pass the hook through the body of the worm ! 
 Now there is a good wind, and the fish has just taken 
 a natural fly. I shall drop the flies, if possible, 
 within a few inches of his nose. He ha^. risen. He 
 is caught ! I must carry him down stream to avoid 
 the bed of weeds above. I now have him on fair 
 ground, and he fights with vigour. Fortunately, my 
 silkworm gut is very strong, for he is not a fish to be 
 
30 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 trifled with. He begins to be tired ; prepare the net. 
 "We have him safe, and see your link hangs to his 
 lower jaw : the hook had struck the cartilage on the 
 outside of the bone, and the fly, probably, was scarcely 
 felt by him. 
 
 PHYS. — I am surprised ! That fish evidently had 
 discovered that the artificial fly was a dangerous bait, 
 yet he took the natural fly wliich was on a hook, and 
 when the silkworm gut must have been visible. 
 
 HAL. — I do not think he saw either the gut or the 
 hook. In very bright weather and water, I have 
 known very shy fish refuse even a hook baited with the 
 natural fly, scared probably by some appearance of 
 hook or gut. The vision of fishes when the surface is 
 not ruflled is sufficiently keen. I have seen them 
 rise at gnats so small as to be scarcely visible to my 
 eye."^ 
 
 PHYS. — ^You just now said, that a fish pricked by 
 the hook of an artificial fly would not usually take it 
 again that season. 
 
 HAL. — I cannot be exact on that point : I have 
 known a fish that I have pricked retain his station in 
 the river, and refuse the artificial fly, day after day, 
 
 * [If the stomach of a trout be examined when flies are abundant, 
 often very many different species will be found amongst its contents, 
 large and small, some so small as to be distinguished with difficulty ; 
 marking equally the acuteness of vision of the fish and its industry and 
 pains-taking in procuring sustenance. — J. D.] 
 
sEcoxDDAY.] TROUT DESCRIBED. 31 
 
 for weeks together ; but his memory may have been 
 kept awake by this practice, and the recollection seems 
 local and associated with surrounding objects ; and if 
 a pricked trout is chased into another pool, he will, I 
 beheve, soon again take the artificial fly. Or if the 
 objects around him are changed, as in Autumn, by 
 the decay of weeds, or by their being cut, the same 
 thing happens; and a flood, or a rough wind, I 
 believe, assists the fly-fisher, not merely by obscuring the 
 vision of the fish, but, in a river much fished, by 
 changing the appearance of their haunts : large trouts 
 almost always occupy particular stations, under, or 
 close to, a large stone or tree ; and, probably, most 
 of their recollected sensations are connected with this 
 dwelling. 
 
 PHYS. — rl think I understand you, that the memory 
 of the danger and pain does not last long, unless 
 there is a permanent sensation with which it can 
 remain associated, — such as the station of the trout ; 
 and that the recollection of the mere form of the 
 artificial fly, without this association, is evanescent. 
 
 ORN. — You are diving into metaphysics; yet I 
 think, in fowling, I have observed that the memory 
 of birds is local. A woodcock, that has been much 
 shot at and scared in a particular wood, runs to the 
 side where he has usually escaped, the moment he 
 hears the dogs ; but if di'iven into a new wood, he 
 
32 
 
 SALMONIA. 
 
 [second day. 
 
 seems to lose his acquired habits of caution, and 
 becomes stupid. 
 
 POIET. — This great fish, that Ornither has just 
 caught, must be nearly of the weight I assigned to him. 
 
 HAL. — Oh no ! he is, I think, above 5 lbs., but not 
 6 lbs. ; but we can form a more correct opinion by 
 measuring him, which I can easily do, the butt of my 
 rod being a measure. He measures, from nose to 
 fork, a very Uttle less than twenty-four inches, and 
 consequently, upon the scale which is appropriate to 
 well-fed trouts, should weigh 5 lbs. lOoz. — which, 
 witliin an ounce, I doubt not, is his weight. 
 
 #^"^^^1 
 
 Trout from the Colne. 
 
 PHYS. — Oh ! I see you take the mathematical law, 
 that similar solids are to each other in the triplicate 
 ratio of one of their dimensions. 
 
 HAL. — You are right. 
 
8KC0KD DAY.] TROUT OF THE COLNE. 38 
 
 PHYS. — But I think you are below the mark, for 
 this appears to me to be an extraordinarily thick fish. 
 
 HAL. — He is a well-fed fish, but, in proportion, 
 not so thick as my model, which was a fish of 17 
 inches by nine inches, and weighed 2 lbs. -, — this is my 
 standard solid. We will try him. Ho ! Mrs. B. ! — 
 bring your scales, and weigh tliis fish. There, you 
 see, he weighs 5 lbs. 10 ^oz. 
 
 PHYS. — Well, I am pleased to see this fish, and 
 amused with your sport; but though I have been 
 imitating you in throwing the fly, as well as I can, 
 yet not a trout has taken notice of my fly, and they 
 seem scared by my appearance. 
 
 HAL. — ^Let me see you perform. There are two 
 good trout taking flies opposite that bank, which you 
 can reach. You threw too much line into the 
 water, and scared them both ; but I will take you to 
 the rapid of the Tumbling Bay, where the river falls ; 
 there the quickness of the stream will prevent your 
 line from faUing deep, and the foam will conceal your 
 person from the view of the fish. And let me advise 
 you to fish only in the rapids till you have gained 
 some experience in throwing the fly. There are several 
 fish rising in that stream. 
 
 PHYS. — I have raised one, but he refused my fly. 
 
 HAL. — Now you have a fish. 
 
 PHYS. — I am delighted ; — but he is a small one. 
 
34 SALMONIA, [second- day. 
 
 HAL — Unluckily, it is a dace, 
 
 PHYS, — I have now a larger fish, which has pulled 
 my line out. 
 
 HAL — Give him time. That is a good trout. Now 
 wind up ; he is tired, and your own. I will land him. 
 He is a fish to keep, being above 2 lbs. 
 
 PHTS. — I am well pleased. 
 
 HAL, — There are many larger trout s here : go on 
 fishing, and you will hook some of them. And when 
 you are tired of this rapid, you will find another a 
 quarter of a mile below. And continue to fish with a 
 short Hne, and drop your fly, or let it be carried by 
 the wind on the water, as lightly as possible. Well, 
 Poietes, what success ? 
 
 POIET. — I have been fisliing in the stream above ; 
 but the flies are so abundant, that the large fish wiU 
 not tajke my artificial fly, and I have caught only 
 three fish, all of which the fisherman has thrown into 
 the water, though I am sure one of them was more 
 than 2 lbs. 
 
 HAL. — You may trust his knowledge : with a new 
 angler, our keeper would be apt rather to favour the 
 fisherman than the fish. But we will have all fish 
 you wish to be kiUed, and above 2 lbs., put into the 
 well of the boat, where they can be examined, and, if 
 you desire, weighed and measured, and such kept as are 
 worth keeping. No good angler should kill a fish, if 
 
SECOND DAY.] TROUT DESCRIBED. S5 
 
 possible^ till he is needed to be crimped; for the 
 sooner he is dressed after this operation the better ; — 
 and I assure you, a well-fed trout of the Colne, crimped 
 and cooled ten minutes before he is wanted for the 
 kettle or the gridiron, is a fish little inferior to the 
 best salmon of the best rivers. It is now nearly two 
 o^clock, and there is a cloud over the sun : the fly is 
 becoming less abundant ; you are now likely, Poietes, 
 to have better sport. Try in that deep pool below the 
 Tumbling Bay; I see two or three good fish rising 
 there, and there is a lively breeze. The largest fish 
 refuses your fly again and again; try the others. 
 There, you have hooked him ! now carry him down 
 stream, and keep his head high, out of the weeds. 
 He plunges and fights with great force ; — he is the 
 best-fed fish I have yet seen at the end of the line, 
 and will weigh more, in proportion to his length. I 
 will land him for you. There he is, — and measures 
 19 inches ; and I dare say his weight is not much 
 short of 3 lbs. "We will preserve him in the well. 
 
 POIET. — He has hardly any spots, and is silvery all 
 over ; and the whole of the lower part of his body is 
 beautifully clean. 
 
 HAL — He is lilcewise broad-backed ; and you may 
 observe his few spots are black, and these are very 
 small. I have always remarked, in this river, that 
 the nearer the fish approach to perfection, the colour 
 
^6 SALMONIA, [second day. 
 
 of the body becomes more uniform, — pale olive above, 
 and bright silver below; and these qualities are always 
 connected with a small head, — or rather, an oval body, 
 and deep-red flesh. 
 
 POTET. — May not the red spots be marks of disease 
 — a hectic kind of beauty ? for I observed in a very 
 thin and poor fish, and great-headed, that I caught 
 an hour ago, which had leeches sticking to it, a 
 number of red spots, and a long black back, and 
 black or bluish marks even on the belly. 
 
 HAL. — I do not think red spots a symptom of 
 disease ; for I have seen fish in other rivers, and even 
 anaU fish in this river, in perfectly good season, with 
 red spots ; but the colours of fish are very capricious, 
 and depend upon causes whicli cannot be easily 
 defined. The colouring matter is not in the scales, 
 but in the surface of the skin immediately beneath 
 them, and is probably a secretion easily affected by 
 the health of the animaL I have known fish, from 
 some lakes in Ireland, mottled in a most singular 
 way, — their colour being like that of the tortoise ; the 
 nature of the water, exposure to the light, and proba- 
 bly the kind of food, produce these effects. I think 
 it possible, when trout feed much on hard substances, 
 such as larvae and their eases, and the ova of other 
 fish, they have more red spots, and redder fins. This 
 is the case with the giUaroo and the char, who feed 
 
SECOND DAY.] 
 
 SPOTS ON TROUT. 
 
 37 
 
 on analogous substances; and the trout, that have 
 similar habits, might be expected to resemble them. 
 
 Trout Irom the Wandle. 
 
 When trout feed most on small fish, as minnows, and 
 on flies, they have more tendency to become spotted 
 with small black spots, and are generally more silvery. 
 The Colne trout are, in their advanced state, of this 
 kind ; and so are the trout called in Ireland buddocks 
 and dolochans, found in Lough JSTeah. Particular 
 character becomes hereditary, and the effects of a 
 peculiar food influence the appearance of the next 
 generation. I hope, Ornither, you have had good 
 sport. 
 
 CRN. — Excellent ! Since you left me, below the 
 wear, I have hooked at least fifteen or twenty good 
 fish, and landed and saved eight above 2 lbs. ; but I 
 have taken no fish like the great one which I caught 
 
38 8 A LMONIA . [second day. 
 
 by poaching with the natural flies. The trout rose 
 wonderfully well within the last quarter of an hour, 
 but they are now aU still ; and the river, which was 
 in such active motion, is now perfectly quiet, and 
 seems asleep and almost dead. 
 
 HAL. — It is past four o^ clock, and some dark, 
 heavy clouds are come on, — the fly is off. It is 
 almost the hour for the signal of the dressing beU ; 
 and there is nothing more to be done now till even- 
 ing. But see ! our host is come to examine our fish 
 in the well, and to inquire about our sport ; and, I 
 dare say, will order some of our fish to be dressed for 
 the table. 
 
 HOST, — I hope, gentlemen, you have been amused? 
 
 HAL. — Most highly, sir. As a pro9f of it, there 
 are in the fish-weU eighteen good trout, — and one 
 not much short of 61bs. ; tliree above 4lbs. ; and 
 four' above 3 lbs. in weight. I hope you wiU order 
 that great fish for your dinner. 
 
 HOST. — We ^^dll see. He is a fine fish, and fit for 
 a present, even for a prince — and you shall take him 
 to a prince. Here is a fish, and there another, of 
 the two next sizes, which I am sure will cut red. 
 Prepare them, fisherman. And, HaHeus, you shall 
 catch tAvo or three perch, for another dish ; I know 
 there are some good ones below the piles of the wear ; 
 I saw them hunting small fisli there yesterday 
 
BECOND DAY.] PERCH. 39 
 
 morning. Some minnows^ ho ! — and the perch 
 rods ! 
 
 HAL. — I am tired^ sir, and wonld willingly avoid 
 minnow fishing after such a morning^s sport. 
 
 HOST, — Come, then, I will be a fisher for the 
 table. I have one — and another, that will weigh 
 nearly a pound a-piece. Now, there is a cumiing 
 perch that has stolen my minnow ; I know he is a 
 large one. He has robbed me again and again ; and 
 if I fish on in this way, with the hook through the 
 upper lip, wiU, I dare say, carry away all the minnoAvs 
 in the kettle. I shall put on a strong small hook, on 
 a stout, though fiiie, gut, with slender wire round the 
 top, and pass the hook through the back fin of the 
 minnow, and try my sagacity against his. Lo ! I 
 have him ! — and a very strong fish he is, and gone to 
 the bottom ; but even though the greatest perch in 
 the river, he cannot bite the gut, — he will soon be 
 tired and taken. He now comes up, and is landed. 
 He must be above 3 lbs. — a magnificent perch! 
 Kill him and crimp him, fisherman; take our two 
 trout, and the three perch, to the kitchen, and let 
 them be dressed as usual. You shall have a good 
 dish of fish, worthy of such determined anglers. But 
 I see one of your party coming up by the side of the 
 river, who seems tired and out of spirits. 
 
 HAL. — It is Physicus, who has this day commenced 
 
40 SALMONIA, [second day. 
 
 his career as a flj-fisher, and who, I dare say, has 
 been as successful as the uninitiated generally are. 
 I hope you have followed my advice, and been 
 fortunate ? 
 
 PHYS. — I caught two trout in the rapid where you 
 left me; but they were small, and the fisherman 
 threw them in. Below the wear, in the quick stream, 
 I caught two dace, and, what astonished me very 
 much, a perch, which you see here, and which 1 
 thought never took the fly. 
 
 HAL. — yes, sometimes ; and particularly when it 
 is below the surface ; and what more ? 
 
 PHYS. — By creeping on my knees, and dropping 
 my fly over the bank, I hooked a very large fish 
 which I saw rising, and which was Hke a sahnon ; but 
 he was too strong for my tackle, ran out aU my hue, 
 and at last broke off by entangling my link in a post 
 in the river. I have been very unlucky ! I am sure 
 that fish was larger than the great one Ornither took 
 with the natural fly. 
 
 HAL. — Come, you have been initiated, and I see 
 begin to take an interest in the sport, and I do not 
 despair of your becoming a distinguished angler. 
 
 PHTS. — ^With time and some patience : but I am 
 sorry I tortured that enormous fish without taking 
 liim. 
 
 HAL. — I dare say he was a large fish ; but I have 
 
SECOND DAT. I ANECDOTE, 41 
 
 known very correct, and even cool, reasoners in error 
 on a point of this kind. You are acquainted with 
 Chemicus ; he is not an ardent fisherman, and certainly 
 not addicted to romance ; I will tell you an anecdote 
 respecting him. He accompanied me to this very 
 spot last year, on a visit to our host, and prefen*ed 
 anghng for pike to fly-fishing. After the amusement 
 of a morning, he brought back with him to the house 
 one pike, and with some degree of disappointment 
 complained that he had hooked another of an enor- 
 mous size, which carried off his tackle by main force, 
 and which he was sure must have been above 1 lbs. 
 At dinner, on the table, there were two pikes ; one 
 the fish that Chemicus had caught, and another a 
 little larger, somewhat more than 3 lbs. We put 
 some questions as to who had caught this second 
 pike, which we found had been taken by. our host, 
 who smihng, and with some kind of mystery, asked 
 Chemicus if he thought it weighed 10 lbs. Chemicus 
 refused to acknowledge an identity between such a 
 fish and the monster he had hooked; when my 
 friend took out of his pocket a paper containing some 
 hooks and tackle carefully wrapped up, and asked 
 Chemicus if he had ever seen such an apparatus. 
 Chemicus owned they were the hooks and tackle the 
 great fish had carried away. " And I found them,'^ 
 said our friend, "in the mouth of that little fish 
 
42 8ALM0NIA, [second day 
 
 wliicli you see on the table^ and which I caught half 
 an hour ago/^ 
 
 HOST. — I answer for the correctness of this anec- 
 dote^ but I do not sanction its appKcation to the case 
 of our novitiate in anghng. I have seen a fish 
 under that bank where he was so unfortunate, which 
 I am sure was above 4 lbs., and which I dare say was 
 the subject of his unsuccessful experiment. 
 
 POIET, — ^From what our host has just said, I con- 
 clude, Halieus, that fish do not usually change their 
 stations. 
 
 HAL. — Large trouts unquestionably do not ; — they 
 always hide themselves under the same bank, stone, 
 stock, or weed, as I said this morning before, and 
 come out from their permanent habitations to feed ; 
 and when they have fled to their haunt, they may be 
 taken there by the hand; and on this circumstance 
 . the practice of tickling trout is founded. A favourite 
 place for a large trout in rivers is an eddy behind a 
 rock or stone, where flies and small fishes are carried 
 by the force of the current : and such haunts are 
 rarely unoccupied ; for if a fish is taken out of one of 
 them, his place is soon supplied by another, who 
 quits for it a less convenient situation. 
 
 PHYS, — So much knowledge and practice is 
 required to become a proficient, that I am afraid it is 
 too late in life for me to begin to learn a new art. 
 
SEcoKD DAY.] EVENING FISHING. 43 
 
 HAL. — Do not despair. There was — alas ! that I 
 must say there was — an illustrious philosopher^ who 
 was nearly of the age of fifty before he made angling 
 a pursuit^ yet he became a distinguished ily-fisher, 
 and the amusement occupied many of his leisure 
 hours during the last twelve years of his life. He, 
 indeed_, applied his pre-eminent acuteness, his science, 
 and his philosophy to aid the resources^ and exalt the 
 pleasures of this amusement. I remember to have 
 seen Dr. Wollaston^ a few days after he had become 
 a fly-fisher, carrying at his button-hole a piece of 
 caoutchouc,, or Indian rubber, when, by passing his 
 silkAvorm link through a fissure in the middle, he 
 rendered it straight and fit for immediate use. Many 
 other anglers will remember other ingenious devices 
 of my admirable and ever-to-be lamented friend. 
 
 {They go to dinner.) 
 
 * * * « ♦ 
 
 {They return from the house.) 
 
 EVENING. 
 
 HAL. — You have, I am sure, gentlemen, dined 
 well ; no one ever dined otherwise in this house. It 
 is a beautiful calm evening, and many fish might be 
 caught where we fished in the morning ; but I AviU 
 take you to another part of the river ; you shall each 
 
44 . 8ALM0N1A, [second day. 
 
 catch a fish, and then we will give over; for the 
 evening^ s sport should be kept till a late season, — 
 July or August, — when there is little fly on in the 
 day-time : and it would be spoiling the diversion of 
 our host, to catch or prick all the fish in the upper 
 water ; and with a gentleman so truly liberal, and so 
 profuse of his means of giving pleasure to others, no 
 improper Hberties should be taken. I shall not fish 
 myself, but shall have my pleasure in witnessing your 
 sport. It must be in a boat, and you must steal 
 slowly up the calm water, and glide like aerial beings 
 on the surface, making no motion in the water, and 
 showing no shadow. Your fly must be an orange or 
 brown, palmer with a yellow body ; for the gray drake 
 is not yet on the water. The fish here are large, and 
 the river weedy, so you must take care of your fish 
 and your tackle. 
 
 POIET. — ^We have at least passed over half-a-mile 
 of water, and have seen no fish rise ; yet there is a 
 yellowish or reddish fly in the air, which moves like 
 a drake, and there are clouds of pale brown flies 
 encircling the alders. Now I think I see a large 
 trout rise below that alder. 
 
 HAL, — ^That is not a trout, for he rises in a different 
 place now, and is probably a large roach or chub ; do 
 not waste your time upon him. You may always 
 know a large trout when feeding in the evening. Hd 
 
SECOND DAY.] EVENING FISHING. 45 
 
 rises continuously, or at small intervals, — ^in a still 
 water almost always in the same place, — and makes 
 little noise, — barely elevating his mouth to suck in 
 the fly, and sometimes showing his back-fin and tail. 
 A large circle spreads around him, but there are 
 seldom any bubbles when he breaks the water, which 
 usually indicate the coarser fish. We will wait a few 
 minutes ; I know there must be trout here, and the 
 sun is setting, and the yellow fly, or dun cut, coming 
 on the water. See, beneath that alder is a trout 
 rising, and now there is another thirty yards higher 
 up. Take care, get your line out in another part of 
 the water, and in order, for reaching the fish, and do 
 not throw till you are sure you can reach the spot, 
 and throw at least half-a-yard above the fish. 
 
 OEN — He rose, I suppose, at a natural fly, the 
 moment before my fly touched the water. 
 
 MAL. — Try again. You have hooked him, and 
 you have done well not to strike when he rose. Now 
 hold him tight, wind up your line, and carry him 
 down the stream. Push the boat down stream, 
 fisherman. Keep your fish's head up. He begins 
 to tire, — and there, is landed. A fine well-fed fish, 
 not much less than 4 lbs. Tlirow him into the well. 
 Now, Poietes, try that fish rising above, — and there 
 are two more. 
 
 POIET. — I have him ! 
 
46 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 HAL, — Take care. He lias turned you, and you 
 have suffered him to run out your Une, and he is gone 
 into the weeds under the willow : let him fall down 
 stream. 
 
 POIET. — I cannot get him out. 
 
 HAL. — Then wind up. I fear he is lost_, yet we 
 will try to recover liim by taking the boat up. The 
 line is loose; he has left the Hnk entangled in the 
 weeds, and carried your fly with liim. He must have 
 been a large fish, or he could not have disentangled 
 liimseK from so strong a gut. Try again, there are 
 fish now rising above and below ; w^here the water is 
 in motion, opposite that wiUow, there are two fish 
 rising. 
 
 POIET. — I have one of them. 
 
 HAL, — ^Now you are doing wtII. Down with the 
 boat, and drag your fish downwards. Continue to do 
 so, as there are weeds all round you. You can 
 master him now ; keep him high, and he is your own. 
 Put the net under hun, and bring him into the boat ; 
 he is a weU-fed fish, but not of the proper size for a 
 victim, — about 2 lbs. Now, Physicus, try your fortune 
 with the fish above, that rises so merrily still. You 
 have him ! Now use him as Poietes did the last. 
 "Very well ; I see he is a large fish, — ^take your time. 
 He is landed; a fish nearly of 3 lbs., and in excellent 
 season. 
 
SECOND DAY.j FLIES. 47 
 
 PHYS. — Anclie lo son Pescatore — I too am a 
 fisherman — a triumph. 
 
 EAR — ^Now we have finished onr fishing, and must 
 return to the light supper of our host. It would be 
 easy now, and between this hour and ten, to take 
 half-a-dozen large fish in this part of the water ; but 
 for the reason I have already stated, it would be 
 improper. 
 
 POIET. — Pray would not this be a good part of 
 the water for day-fishing ? 
 
 HAL. — Undoubtedly, a skilful angler might take 
 fish here in the day ; but the bank is shaded by trees, 
 there is seldom any sensible wind on the water, and 
 the apparatus and the boat in motion are easily 
 perceived in the daylight ; and the water is so deep, 
 that a great quantity of fly is necessary to call up the 
 fish ; and in general there is a larger quantity of fly 
 in hot summer evenings, than even in the brightest 
 sunshine. 
 
 PETS. — The fly appears to me like a moth that is 
 now on the water. 
 
 EAL. — It is. 
 
 POIET. — Wliat flies come on late in the season 
 here? 
 
 EAL, — ^PKes of the same species; some darker, 
 and some with a deeper shade of red ; and there are 
 likewise the true moths, the bro^wTi and white, which. 
 
48 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 in June and July, are seized with avidity by the fish, 
 and, being large flies, take large fish. 
 
 ORN. — Surely the May-fly season is not the only 
 season for day-fishing in this river ? 
 
 HAL. — Certainly not. There are as many fish to 
 be taken perhaps in the Spring fishing ! but in this 
 deep river they are seldom in good season till the 
 May-fly has been on, and a fortnight hence they will 
 be still better than even now. In September there 
 may be good fish taken here ; but the autumnal flies 
 are less plentiful in this river than the Spring flies. 
 
 PHYS. — Pray teU me what are the species of fly 
 which take in these two seasons ? 
 
 HAL. — You know that trout spawn or deposit their 
 ova in the end of the autumn or begimiing of mnter, 
 from the middle of November till the beginning of 
 January, their maturity depending upon the tempe- 
 rature of the season, their quantity of food, &c. For 
 some time (a month or six weeks) before they are 
 prepared for the sexual function, or that of re-produc- 
 tion, they become less fat, particularly the females; 
 the large quantity of eggs and their size probably 
 affecting the health of the animal, and compressing 
 generally the vital organs in the abdomen. They are 
 at least six weeks or two months after they have 
 spa\vTied before they recover their flesh ; and the time 
 when these fish are at the worst is likewise the worst 
 
SECOND DAY.] FLIES. 49 
 
 time for fly-fishings both on account of the cold 
 weather and because there are fewer flies on the water 
 than at any other season. Even in December and 
 January there are a few small gnats or water-flies on 
 the water in the middle of the day^ in bright days, 
 or when there is sunshine. These are generally black, 
 and they escape the influence of the frost by the 
 effects of light on their black bodies, and probably by 
 the extreme rapidity of the motions of their fluids, ' 
 and generally of their organs. They are found only 
 at the surface of the water, where the temperature 
 must be above the freezing point. In February a 
 few double-winged water-flies which swim down the 
 stream are usually found in the middle of the day, — 
 such as the willow-fly ; and the cow-dung-fly is 
 sometimes carried on the water by winds. In March 
 there are several flies found on most rivers. The 
 grannam or green-tail-fly, with a wing like a moth, 
 comes on generally morning and evening, from fiYe^ 
 till eight o^clock a. m. in mild weather in the end of 
 March and through April. Then there are the blue 
 and the brovm,both Ephemerae, which come on, the first 
 in dark days, the second in bright days ; these flies, 
 when well imitated, are very destructive to fish. The 
 first is a small fiy with a palish-yellow body, and 
 slender beautiful wings, which rest on the back as it 
 floats down the water. The second, called the cob in 
 
50 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 Wales^ is three or four times as large, and has brown 
 wings, which hkewise protrude from the back, and its 
 wings are shaded like those of a partridge, brown and 
 yellow brown. These three kinds of flies lay their 
 eggs in the water, which produce larvse that remain 
 in the state of worms, feeding and breathing in the 
 water till they are prepared for their metamorphosis 
 and quit the bottoms of the rivers, and the mud and 
 'stones, for the surface, and the light and air. The 
 brown fly usually disappears before the end of April, 
 likewise the grannam ; but of the blue dun there is 
 a succession of different tints, or species, or varieties, 
 which appear in the middle of the day aU the summer 
 and autumn long. These are the principal flies on 
 the Wandle — the best and clearest stream near 
 London. In early spring these flies have dark olive 
 bodies; in the end of April and the beginning of 
 May, they are found yellow ; and in the summer, they 
 become cinnamon-coloured ; and again, as the winter 
 approaches, gain a darker hue. I do not, however, 
 mean to say that they are the same flies ; but more 
 probably successive generations of Ephemerse of the 
 same species. The excess of heat seems equally 
 unfavourable, as the excess of cold, to the existence 
 of the smaller species of water-insects, which, during 
 the intensity of sunshine, seldom appear in summer, 
 but rise morning and evening only. The blue dun 
 
SECOND DAY.] FLIES. 51 
 
 has in June and July a yellow body ; and there is a 
 water-fly which in the evening is generally found 
 before the moths appear, called the red-spinner. 
 Towards the end of August, the Ephemerse appear 
 again in the middle of the day, — a very pale small 
 Ephemera, which is of the same colour as that wliich 
 is seen in some rivers in the beginning of July. In 
 September and October this kind of fly is found with 
 an olive body, and it becomes darker in October, 
 and paler in November. There are two other flies 
 which appear in the end of September, and continue 
 dming October if the weather be mild, — a large 
 yellow fly with a fleshy body and wings like a moth ; 
 and a small fly with four wings, with a dark or claret- 
 coloured body, that when it falls on the water has its 
 wings, like ih.^ great yellow fly, flat on its back. 
 This, or a claret-bodied fly very similar in character, 
 may be likewise found in March or April, on some 
 waters. In this river I have often caught many 
 large trout in April and the beginning of May with 
 the blue dun, having the yellow body; and in the 
 upper part of the stream below St. Alban^s, and 
 between that and Watford, I have sometimes, even 
 as early as April, caught fish in good condition ; but 
 the true season for the Colne is the season of the 
 May-fly. The same may be said of most of the large 
 English rivers containing large trouts, and abounding 
 
52 SALMON! A. [second day. 
 
 in May-fly — such as tlie Test and the Kennet^ the 
 one running by Stockbridge^ the other by Hungerford. 
 But in the Wandle at Carshalton and Beddington^ 
 the May-fly is not found ; and the little blues are the 
 constant, and when well imitated, killing flies on this 
 water ; to wliich may be joined a dark alder-fly, and 
 a red evening fly. In the Avon, at Ringwood and 
 Tordingbridge, the May-fly is likewise a kiUing fly ; 
 but as this is a grayling river, the other flies, 
 particularly the grannam and blue and brown, are 
 good in spring, and the alder-fly or pale blue later, 
 and the blue dun in September and October, and 
 even November. In the streams in the mountainous 
 parts of Britain, the spring and autumnal flies are by 
 far the most killing. The Usk was formerly a very 
 productive trout stream, and the fish being well fed 
 by the worms washed down by the winter floods 
 were often in good season, cutting red in March, 
 and the beginning of April; and at this season the 
 blues and browns, particidarly when the water was a 
 little stained after a small flood, afforded the angler 
 good sport. In Herefordshire and Derbyshire, where 
 trout and grayling are often found together, the same 
 periods are generally best for angling; but in the 
 Dove, Lathkill, and Wye, with the natural May-fly, 
 many fish may be taken; and in old times, in 
 peculiarly windy days, or high and troubled water. 
 
SECOND DAY.] FISHING IN IRELAND, 53 
 
 even the artificial Maj-%, according to Cotton^, was 
 very killing. 
 
 POIET. — I have heard various accounts of the 
 excellent fishing in some of the great lakes in Ireland. 
 Can you tell us anything on the subject ? and if the 
 same flies may be used in that island ? 
 
 HAL. — I have been several times in Ireland^ but 
 never at this season, which is considered as best for 
 lake-fishing. I have heard that in some of the lakes 
 in Westmeath, very large trout, and great quantities, 
 may be taken in the beginning of June, with the 
 very flies we have been using this day. Wind is 
 necessary; and a good angler sometimes takes in a 
 day, or rather formerly took, from ten to twelve fish, 
 which weighed from 3 to 10 lbs., and which occasionally 
 were even larger. In the summer after June, and in 
 the autumn, the only seasons when I have fished in 
 Ireland, I have seldom taken any large trout ; but in 
 the river Boyle, late in October, after a flood, I once 
 had some sport with these fish, that were running up 
 the river from Lock Key to spawn. I caught one 
 day two above 3 lbs. that took a large reddish-brown 
 fly of the same kind as a salmon-fly ; and I saw some 
 taken that weighed 5 lbs., and heard of one that 
 equalled 9 lbs. These fish were in good season, even 
 at this late period, and had no spots, but were 
 coloured red and brown — ^mottled like tortoise-shell, 
 
54 8ALM0NIA. [second day, 
 
 only with smaller bars. I have in July, likewise, 
 fished in Loch Con, near Ballina, and Loch Melvin, 
 near Ballyshannon. Li Loch Con, the party caught 
 many small good trout, that cut red; and in the 
 other I caught a very few trout only, but as many of 
 them were giUaroo or gizzard trout as common trout. 
 
 POIET. — This must have been an interesting kind 
 of fishing. In what does the gillaroo difPer from the 
 trout ? 
 
 HAL. — In appearance very little, except that they 
 have more red spots, and a yellow or golden-coloured 
 belly and fins, and are generally a broader and tliicker 
 fish ; but internally they have a different organisation, 
 possessing a large thick muscular stomach, which has 
 been improperly compared to a fowFs, and which gene- 
 rally contains a quantity of small sheU-fish of three or 
 four kinds ; and though in those I caught the stomachs 
 were full of these shell-fish, yet they rose greedily at 
 the fiy. 
 
 POIET. — Are they not common trout which have 
 gained the habit of feeding on shell-fish ? 
 
 HAL. — If so, they have been altered in a succession 
 of generations. The common trouts of this lake have 
 stomachs like other trouts, which never, as far as my 
 experience has gone, contain shell-fish; but of the 
 gillaroo trout, I have caught with a fly some not 
 longer than my finger, which have had as perfect a 
 
SECOND DAY.] GILL AROO.— TROUT. 55 
 
 hard stomach as the larger ones, with the coats as 
 thick in proportion, and the same shells within ; so 
 that this animal is at least now a distinct species, and 
 is a sort of link between the trout and charr, which has 
 a stomach of the same kind with the gillaroo, but not 
 quite so thick, and which feeds at the bottom in the 
 same way. I have often looked in the lakes abroad 
 for giUaroo trout, and never found one. In a small 
 lake at the foot of the Crest of the Brenner, above 
 4000 feet above the level of the sea, I once caught 
 some trout, which, from their thickness and red 
 spots, I suspected were gillaroo, but on opening the 
 stomach I found I was mistaken ; it had no particular 
 thickness, and was filled with grasshoppers : but there 
 were charr, which fed on shell-fishj in the same lake. 
 
 POIET. — Are water-flies found on all rivers ? 
 
 HAL. — ^This is a question which I find it impossible 
 to answer ; yet from my own experience I should 
 suppose, that in all the habitable parts of the globe 
 certain water-flies exist wherever there is running 
 water. Even in the most ardent temperature, gnats 
 and musquitoes are found, which lay their congeries 
 of eggs on the water, which, when hatched, become 
 first worms, afterwards small slirimp-like aurelise, and 
 lastly flies. There are a great number of the largest 
 species of these flies on stagnant waters and lakes, 
 which form a part of the food of various fishes. 
 
56 8ALM0N1A. [second day. 
 
 principally of the carp kind : but the true fisherman^ s 
 flies, — those which are imitated in our art, principally 
 belong to the northern, or at least temperate part of 
 Europe, and I believe are nowhere more abundant 
 than, in England. It appears to me, that since I have 
 been a fisherman, which is now the best part of half a 
 centnry, I have observed in some rivers where I have 
 been accustomed to fish habitually, a diminution of 
 the numbers of flies. There were always some seasons 
 in which the temperature was favourable to a quantity 
 of fly ; for instance, fine warm days in spring for the 
 grannam, or brown fly; and like days in May 
 and June for the alder-fly. May -fly, and stone-fly : 
 but I should say that, within these last twenty years, 
 I have observed a general diminution of the spring 
 and autumnal flies, except in those rivers which 
 are fed from sources that run from chalk, and 
 wliich are perennial — such as the Wandle, and 
 the Hampshire and Buckinghamsliire rivers; in 
 these streams the temperature is more uniform, 
 and the quantity of water does not vary much. I 
 attribute the change of the quantity of flies in the 
 rivers to the cultivation of the country. Most of the 
 bogs or marshes which fed many considerable streams, 
 are drained; and the consequence is, that they are 
 more likely to be afi^ected by severe droughts and 
 great floods — i\\Q first killing, and the second washing 
 
SECOND DAY.] FLIES. 67 
 
 away the larvae and aurelias. May-flies thirty years 
 ago were abundant in the upper part of the Teme 
 river in Herefordshire^ where it receives the Clun: 
 they are now rarely seen. Most of the rivers of that 
 part of England^ as well as of the west, with the 
 exception of those that rise in the still uncultivated 
 parts of Dartmoor and Exmoor, are rapid and 
 unfordable torrents after rain, and in dry summers 
 little more than scanty rills; and Exmoor and 
 Dartmoor, almost the only considerable remains of 
 those moist, spongy, or peaty soils, which once covered 
 the greatest part of the high lands of England, are 
 becoming cultivated, and their sources will gradually 
 gain the same character as those of oui* midland and 
 highly improved counties. I cannot give you an idea 
 of the effects of peat mosses and grassy marshes on 
 the water thrown down from the atmosphere, better 
 than by comparing their effects to those of roofs of 
 houses of thatched straw, as contrasted with roofs of 
 slate, on a shower of rain. The slate begins to drop 
 immediately, and sends down what it receives in 
 a rapid torrent, and is dry soon after the shower is 
 over. Erom the sponge-like roof of thatch, on 
 the contrary, it is long before the water drops ; but it 
 continues dropping and wet for hours after the shower 
 is over and the slate dry.* 
 
 [* The above remark with its illustration is applicable to surface- 
 
58 
 
 SALMONIA. 
 
 [SECOND DAY. 
 
 POIET. — You spoke just now of the gillaroo trout 
 as belonging only to Ireland. I can, however, hardly 
 
 Gillaroo— Loch Melvin. 
 
 bring myself to believe, that such a fish is not to be 
 found elsewhere. Tor lakes with shell-fish and charr 
 are common in various parts of Europe, and as the 
 gillaroo trout is congenerous, it ought to exist both 
 in Scotland and the Alpine countries. 
 
 HAL. — It is not possible from analogies of this 
 kind to draw certain inferences. Subterraneous 
 cavities and subterranean waters are common in 
 various countries, yet the Proteus Anguinus is only 
 found in two places in Carniola — at Adelsburg and 
 
 draining, but not to deep thorough draining, the tendency of which is 
 tlie reverse, similar to that of peat mosses, and perhaps even in a 
 higher degree. The constant stream of water that flows from land 
 thus drained, even in a period of drought, is proof of the influence 
 adverted to. — J. D.] 
 
SECOND DAY.] 
 
 PARR, OR SAMLET. 
 
 59 
 
 Sitticli. As I mentioned before^ I have never yet met 
 with a gillaroo trout, except in Ireland. It is true, it 
 is only lately that I have had my attention directed to 
 the subject, and other fishermen or naturalists may be 
 more fortunate. 
 
 POIET. — Have you ever observed any other varieties 
 of the trout kind, which may be considered as, like 
 the gillaroo, forming a distinct species ? 
 
 HAL. — I think the parr, samlet, or branclHng, 
 common to most of our rivers which communicate 
 with the sea, has a claim to be considered a distinct 
 
 
 Parr, or Saniict. 
 
 species ; yet the history of this fish is so obscure, and 
 so little understood, that, perhaps, I ought not to 
 venture to give an account of it. But in doing so, 
 you will consider me as rather asking for new infor- 
 
60 8ALM0NIA. [second day. 
 
 mation^ than as attempting a satisfactory view of this 
 little animal. 
 
 ORN. — I have seen this fish in the rivers of Wales 
 and Herefordshire^ and have heard it asserted^ on 
 what appeared to me good anthority, that it was 
 a mule^ — the offspring of a trout and a salmon. 
 
 HAL. — Tliis opinion^ I know^ has been supported 
 by the fact^ that it is found only in streams 
 which are occasionally visited by salmon; yet I 
 know no direct evidence in favour of the opinion, 
 and I should think it much more probable, if it 
 be a mixed race, that it is produced by the sea 
 trout and common trout. In a small river, wliich 
 runs into the Moy, near Ballina in Ireland, I once 
 caught in October a great number of small sea trout, 
 which were generally about haK-a-pound in weight, 
 and were all males ; and unless it be supposed, that 
 the females were in the river likewise, and would not 
 ■ take the fly, these fish, in which the spermatic system 
 was fully developed, could only have impregnated the 
 ova of the common river trout. The sea trout and 
 river trout are, indeed, so like each other in character, 
 that such a mixture seems exceedingly probable ; but 
 I know no reason why such mules should always 
 continue small, except that it may be a mark of 
 imperfection. The only difference between the parr 
 and common small trout is in the colours, and its 
 
SECOND DAY.] PARR, OR SAMLET. 61 
 
 possessing one or two spines more in the pectoral iin. 
 The parr has Lirge blue or olive bluish marks on the 
 sides^ as if they had been made by the impression of 
 the fingers of a hand ; and hence the fish is called in 
 some "^XdiO,^^ fi7igerling. The river and sea trout seem 
 capable of changing permanently their places of 
 residence; and sea trout appear often to become 
 river trout. In this case they lose their silvery 
 colour^ and gain more spots ; and in their offspring 
 these changes are more distinct. Pish, likewise, 
 which are ill-fed remain small; and parrs are exceed- 
 ingly numerous in those rivers where they are found, 
 which are never separated from the sea by impassable 
 falls; from which I think it possible that they are 
 produced by a cross between sea and river trout. 'J^ 
 
 [* Since the researches of Mr. Shaw,puhlished in 1837, naturalists, 
 with few exceptions, have come to the conclusion that the parr is the 
 young of the salmon, as is also the smelt, or smolt, — the one in its 
 earlier stage, having characteristic transverse marks — those which have 
 given rise to the designation of fingerling, perhaps of brandling, — the 
 other, after those marks have disappeared, and the fish has acquired the 
 uniformity of silvery colouring of the salmon, preparatory to its quitting 
 its native stream for the sea. In relation to the fresh-water parr 
 compared with the salt-water salmon, there are some circumstances 
 which are remarkable, and which might well lead to the conclusion 
 that the parr is distinct from the salmon. The parr, whilst in fresh 
 water, grows slowly, the young salmon, as soon as it enters the sea, 
 very rapidly, as has been proved by the observations of Mr. Young, 
 but though growing slowly in fresh. water, the parr feeds well and is in 
 good condition, — using the varied food of the common trout — flies, 
 worms, larvae, fresh-water shell-fish, and squillae — as if a distinct 
 
62 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 Tlie varieties of the common trout are almost infinite; 
 from the great lake trout, which weighs above 60 or 
 70 Ibs.j to the trouts of the little mountain brook or 
 small mountain lake, or tarn, which is scarcely larger 
 than the finger. The smallest trout spawn nearly at 
 the same time with the larger ones, and their ova are 
 of the same size ; but in the large trout there are 
 tens of thousands, and in the small ones rarely as 
 many as forty, — often from ten to forty. So that in 
 the physical constitution of these animals, their pro- 
 duction is diminished as their food is small in 
 quantity ; and it is remarkable that the ova of the 
 large and beautiful species which exist in certain 
 
 species. And in accordance, both its roe and soft milt are found more 
 or less developed, so that the sexes can be easily distinguished. In 
 most instances the milt is more fully foniied than the roe ; but there 
 are examples of the latter having been found of full size. Mr. Yarrell, 
 in his " Hist, of British Fishes," quotes one on the authority of 
 a trust-worthy observer, Dr. Heysham of Carlisle ; and he has in 
 his possession, preserved in spirits, a like specimen taken undoubtedly 
 from a parr, which he had the kindness to show me. These circum- 
 stances and others lead to the inference that the young salmon, as 
 a parr, is capable of breeding, and does occasionally breed in some of 
 our rivers, so that the species can be continued ; and that a descent 
 to the sea and high feeding there are not absolutely essential to the 
 preservation of the species. Of those parrs which I have examined, 
 taken from streams in the lake districts, as many have been females as 
 males : the proportion in which the marks of the sex were not 
 distinguishable, was very small. For much valuable information on 
 this interesting subject, see the article " Salmonidae," in vol. ii., 1st 
 and 2nd editions, of Mr. YarrelPs excellent work on " British Fishes," 
 and Mr. Scrope's ", Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing." — J, D.] 
 
SECOND DAY.] 
 
 VARIETIES OF TROUT. 
 
 63 
 
 lakes, and wliicli seem always to associate together, 
 appear to produce offspring, wliicti, in colour, form, 
 and power of growth and reproduction, resemble 
 
 Great Lake Trout. 
 
 the parent fishes ; and they generally choose the same 
 river for their spawning. Thus, in the lake of 
 Guarda, the Benacus of the ancients, the magnificent 
 trout, or Salmofario, which in colour and appearance 
 is like a fresh run salmon, spawns in the river at 
 Eiva, beginning to run up for that purpose in June, 
 and continuing to do so all the summer ; and tliis 
 river is fed by streams from snow and glaciers in the 
 Tyrol, and is generally foul : whilst the small spotted 
 common troiits, which are likewise found in this lake, 
 go into the small brooks, which have their sources 
 not far off, and in which, it is probable, they were 
 originally bred. I have seen taken in the same net 
 
64 SA LMONIA . [second day. 
 
 small fish of both these varieties, which were as 
 marked as possible in their characters, — one silvery, 
 like a young salmon, blue on the back, and with 
 small black spots only, — the other, with yellow belly 
 and red spots, and an olive-coloured back. I have 
 made similar observations in other lakes, particularly 
 in that of the Traun near Gmiinden, and likewise at 
 Loch Neah in Ireland. Indeed, considering the sea 
 trout as the type of the species trout, I think all the 
 other true trouts may not improperly be considered as 
 varieties, in which the differences of food and of habits 
 have occasioned, in a long ^course of ages, differences 
 of shape and colours, transmitted to offspring in the 
 same manner as in the variety of dogs, which may 
 aU be referred to one primitive type.* 
 
 * I have known the number of spines in the pectoral fins different, 
 in different varieties of trout; I have seen them 12, 13, and 14 : but 
 the anal fin always, I believe, contains 11 spines, the dorsal 12 or 
 13, the ventral 9, and the caudal 21. The smallest brook trout, 
 when well and copiously fed, will increase in stews to four or five 
 pounds in weight, but never attains the size or characters of lake 
 trout. 
 
 Mr. Tonkin of Polgaron put some small river trout, 2\ inches in 
 length, into a newly-made pond. He took some of these out the 
 second year, and they were above 12 inches in length ; the third year, 
 he took one out that was 16 inches; and the fourth year, one of 25 
 inches: this was in 1734. {Carew*s Survey of Cornwall, p. 87. 
 Lord de Dunstanville's edition.) 
 
 [It is now generally admitted by those naturalists who are the 
 lushest authorities relative to the species of fish, that there are, ex- 
 
SECOND DAY.] VARIETIES OF TROUT. 65 
 
 PHYS.—i am somewliat amused at yoiir idea 
 of the change produced in the species of trout 
 by the formation of particular characters by 
 particular accidents, and their hereditary trans- 
 mission. It reminds me of the ingenious but 
 somewhat unsound views of Darwin on the same 
 subject. 
 
 HAL.—\ will not allow you to assimilate my views 
 to those of an author, who, however ingenious, is far 
 too speculative ; whose poetry has always appeared to 
 me weak philosophy, and his philosophy indifferent 
 poetry : and to whom I have been often accustomed 
 to apply Blumenbach^s saying, that there were many 
 things new and many things true in his doctrines ; 
 but that what was new was not true, and what was 
 true was not new. 
 
 POIBT.—'l think Halieus is quite in the right to 
 be a little angry at your observation. Physic as, in 
 making him a disciple of a writer, who, as well as I 
 can recollect, has deduced the genesis of the human 
 being, by a succession of changes dependent upon 
 
 elusive of the salmon (Salmo salar), three distinct species of the trout : 
 two migratory, the salmon trout, or salmon peal {Salmo trutta), and 
 the sea trout, or bull trout (Salmo eriox) ; and one not migratory, the 
 common trout (Salmo fario); each possessing certain distinctive 
 structural marks, especially in the relative proportions of their maxillae. 
 Ample information is given on this subject in Mr. Yarrcll's " History 
 of British Fishes."— J. D.] 
 
 p 
 
SALMONIA. [second DAT. 
 
 irritabilities^ sensibilities^ and appetencies^ from the 
 fish ; blending tlie wild fancies of Buifon with the 
 profound ideas of Hartley, and thus endeavouring to 
 give currency to an absurd romance, by mixing with 
 it some philosophical truths. I hope your parallel 
 will induce liim to do us the favour to state his own 
 notions more at large. 
 
 ZTiZ.— Physicus has mistaken me; and I will explain. 
 What I mentioned of the varieties of dogs as sprung 
 from one type, he will, I am sure, allow me to apply, 
 with some modifications, to all our cultivated breeds 
 of animals, whether horses, oxen, sheep, hogs, geese, 
 ducks, turkeys, or pigeons; and he will allow, that 
 certain characters gained by accidents, either from 
 peculiar food, air, water, or domestic treatment, are 
 transmitted to, and often strengthened in, the next 
 generation ; — the qualities being, as it were, doubled 
 when belonging to both parents, and retained in 
 spite of counteracting causes. It will be sufficient 
 for me to mention only a few cases. The blood- 
 horse of Arabia is become the favourite of the north 
 of Europe, and the colts possess all the superior 
 qualities of their parents, even in the polar circle. 
 The offspring of the Merino sheep retain, the fineness 
 of their wool in England and Saxony. Poultry, 
 bantams, tumbling and carrier pigeons, geese, ducks, 
 turkeys, &c., all aff*ord instances of the same kind; 
 
SECOND DAY.] VARIETIES OF TROUT. 67 
 
 and in the goose and duck^ not only is the colour of 
 the feathers changed^ but the form of the muscles of 
 the legs and wings^— tliose of the wings, being little 
 employed, become -weak arid slender, — those of the 
 legs, on the contrary, being much used, are strong 
 and fleshy. And it is well to know this, as, in the 
 young birds, the muscles of the legs and thighs are 
 the best parts for the epicure, a large quantity of 
 flesh being developed there, but not yet hardened or 
 rendered *tough by exercise. These facts are of the 
 same kind and depend on the same principles, as the 
 peculiarity of the breeds or races in trouts. Ksh in 
 a clear cool river, that feed much on larvse, and that 
 swallow their hard cases, become yellower, and the 
 red spots increase so as to outnumber the black ones ; 
 and these qualities become fixed in the young fishes, 
 and establish a particular variety. If trout from a 
 lake, or another river of a different variety, were 
 introduced into this river, they would not at once 
 change their characters ; but the change would take 
 place gradually. Thus I have known trout from a 
 lake in Scotland, remarkable for their deep red flesh, 
 introduced into another lake, where the trout had 
 only wliite flesh, and they retained the peculiar 
 redness of their flesh for many years. At first they 
 all associated together in spawning in the brook 
 which fed the lake, but those newly introduced were 
 
 F 2 
 
68 8ALM0NIA, [second day. 
 
 easily knoAvn from their darker backs and brighter 
 sides. By degrees^ however^ from the influence of 
 food and other causes^ they became changed; the 
 young trout of the introduced variety had flesh less 
 red than their parents; and in about twenty years 
 the variety was entirely lost, and all the fish were 
 in their original white state. A very speculative 
 reasoner might certainly defend the hypothesis, of the 
 change of sjoecies in a long course of ages, from the 
 establishment of particular characters as hereditary. 
 It might be said, that trout, after having thickened 
 their stomachs by feeding on larvae with hard 
 cases, gained the power of eating shell-fish, and were 
 gradually changed to gillaroos and to charr, — their 
 red spots and the yellow colour of their belly and fins 
 increasing. In the same manner it might be said, 
 that the large trout wliich feed ahnost entirely on 
 small fishes, gained more spines in the pectoral fins 
 and became a new species ; but I shall not go so far, 
 and I know no facts of this kind. The gillaroo and 
 the charr appear always with the same characters; 
 and I have never seen any fish that seemed in a 
 state of transition from a trout to a gillaroo or a 
 charr; which, I think, must have been the case if 
 such changes took place. I hope, after this explana- 
 tion, Physicus will not find any analogy between my 
 ideas and those of a school, to which I am not 
 
SECOND DAY.] VARIETIES OF TROUT. 69 
 
 ambitious of being thought to belong ; and that he 
 will allow my views to be sounds or at least founded 
 upon correct analogies. 
 
 POIET.—Do you know any facts of a similar kind 
 in confirmation of your idea that the parr is a 
 mule? 
 
 HAL.— I. have heard of similar instances^ but I 
 cannot say I have myself witnessed them. The 
 common carp and the cruscian are said to produce a 
 mixed race^ and likewise the rud and the roach ; but 
 I have never paid much attention to varieties of the carp 
 kind. A friend of mine informed me^ that in a branch 
 of the Test, into which graylings had recently been 
 introduced, his fisherman caught a fish which appeared 
 to be from a cross between the trout and grayling, 
 having the high back fin of the grayling, and the head 
 and spots of the trout: this is the more remarkable, 
 if correct, as the grayling spawns in the late spring, 
 and the trout in the late autumn or winter : yet I do 
 recollect that I once took a grayling in the end of 
 November, in which the ova were so large, as nearly 
 to be ready for protrusion. The fisherman of the 
 Griindtl See, in Styria, informed me, that he had seen 
 a fish which he believed to be a mule between the 
 trout and charr, the fins of which resembled those of a 
 trout, though the body was in other respects like that 
 of a charr. The seasons at which these two species 
 
^0 SALMONIA. ' [SECOND DAY 
 
 spawn approach nearer to each other ; but the charr 
 spawns in still and the trout in running water. In 
 general the trout are mature before the charr^ yet I 
 have seen in the Leopoldstein See_, in Styria^ a female 
 charr_, of which the eggs were almost fully developed 
 as early as June : the fisherman of the Griindtl See 
 said, that these peculiar fish were very rare, and that 
 he caught only one in about 500 charr. It is not, I 
 think, impossible, that it may be an umbla, a fish that 
 might be expected to be found in that deep, cold, 
 Alpine lake, a peculiar species and not a mixed variety. 
 It is a fertile and very curious subject for new 
 experiments, that of crossing the breeds of fishes, and 
 offers a very interesting and untouched field of 
 investigation, which I hope will soon be taken up by 
 some enlightened country gentleman, who in this 
 way might make not only curious but useful dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 POIET. — So much science would be required to 
 make these experiments with success, and there would 
 be so many difficulties in the way of preserving fishes 
 at the time they are proper for reproduction, that 
 I fear very few country gentlemen would be capable 
 of prosecuting the inquiry. 
 
 HAL. — The science required for tliis object is easily 
 attained, and the difficulties are quite imaginary. 
 The impregnation of the ova of fishes is performed out 
 
SECOND DAT.] BREEDING OF FISH. 71 
 
 of the body, and it is only necessary to pour the 
 spermatic liquor from the milt upon the ova in water. 
 Mr. Jacobi, a German gentleman,, who made many 
 years ago experiments on the increase of trout and 
 salmon, informs us, that the ova and milt of matui'e 
 fish, recently dead, will produce living offspring. His 
 plan of raising trout from the o^g^ was a very simple 
 one. He had a box made with a small wire grating 
 at one end in the cover, for admitting water from 
 a fresh source or stream, and at the other end of the 
 side of the box there were a number of holes to 
 permit the exit of the water : the bottom of the box 
 was filled with pebbles and gravel of different sizes, 
 which were kept covered with water that was always 
 in motion. In November or the beginning of Decem- 
 ber, when the trout were in full maturity for spawning, 
 and collected in the rivers for this purpose upon beds 
 of gravel, he caught males and females in a net, and 
 by the pressure of his hands, received the ova in a 
 basin of water, and suffered the milt to pass into the 
 basin; and after they had remained a few minutes 
 together, he introduced them upon the gravel in the 
 box, which was placed under a source of fresh, cool, 
 and pure water. In a few weeks the eggs burst, 
 and the box was filled with an immense number of 
 young trout, which had a small bag attached to the 
 lower part of their body containing a part of the yolk 
 
72 SALMONIA. [second day. 
 
 of the egg, wliicli was still their nourishment. In 
 this state thej were easily carried from place to place 
 in confined portions of fresh water for some days_, 
 requiring, apparently, no food; but, after about 
 a week, the nourishment in their bag being exhausted, 
 they began to seek their food in the water, and 
 rapidly increased in size. As I have said before, Mr. 
 Jacobi assures us, that the experiment succeeded as 
 well with mature fish, that had been killed for the 
 purpose of procuring the roe and milt, these having 
 been mixed together in cold water immediately after 
 they have been taken out of the body. I have had 
 this experiment tried twice, and with perfect success, 
 and it offers a very good mode of increasing to any 
 extent the quantity of trout in rivers or lakes ; for the 
 young ones are preserved from the attacks of fishes, 
 and other voracious animals or insects, at the time 
 when they are most easily destroyed, and perfectly 
 helpless. The same plan, I have no doubt, would 
 answer equally well with grayling or other varieties of 
 the sahno genus. But in all experiments of tliis 
 kind, the great principle is, to have a constant current 
 of fresh and aerated water running over the eggs. 
 The uniform supply of air to the embryo in the ^^^ is 
 essential for its life and growth, and such eggs as are 
 not supplied with water saturated with air are unpro- 
 ductive. The experimenter must be guided exactly 
 
SECOND DAY.] BREEDING OF FISH. 73 
 
 by the instinct of the parent fishes^ who take care to 
 deposit the impregnated eggs that are to produce 
 their offspring, only in sources continually abounding 
 in fresh and aerated water ."^ 
 
 PHYS, — Biit as every species of fish has a particular 
 and usually different time for spawning, I do not see 
 how it could be contrived to cross their breeds, or how 
 the ova of a trout, which spawns in December, could 
 be impregnated by the spermatic fluid of the grayling, 
 which spawns in May ; for I conclude it would be 
 impossible to preserve the eggs of a fish out of the 
 body in a state in which they could retain or recover 
 their vitality. 
 
 HAL. — I believe I mentioned before, that I had 
 found instances, in which the ova of fish were deve- 
 loped at a different period from their natural one ; and 
 I have no doubt, that a little inquiry respecting the 
 habits of fishes would enable us to acquire a knowledge 
 of the circumstances, which either hasten or retard their 
 maturity. Plenty of food and a genial season hasten 
 the period of their reproduction, which is delayed by 
 
 [* For success in such trials it may be well to imitate nature as closely 
 as possible, and to have the breeding box made of stone with perforated 
 stone partitions. I have heard of a failure on a large scale, made appa- 
 rently under favourable circumstances and conducted with care, in which 
 the boxes used were of wood and the partitions of perforated zinc. 
 Leecbes, it is well known, can be long preserved in stone tanks, and 
 even breed in them, but not in tanks of wood. — J. D.] 
 
74 SALMON I A. [second day. 
 
 want of proper nourisliment^ and by unfavourable 
 weatber. Males and females likewise, confined 
 from eacli other, have their generative powers 
 impeded; and trout, grayling, and salmon, will not 
 deposit their ova except in running water ; so that by 
 keeping them in tanks, the period of their maturity 
 might be considerably altered. I have seen charr even, 
 which had been kept in confined water from September 
 tiR July; and so slow had been the progress of the 
 ova, that they appeared to be about this time fit for 
 exclusion, though, in the natural course of things, 
 they would have been ripe in the end of October of 
 the year before. By attending to and controlling all 
 these circumstances, I have no doubt many interesting 
 experiments might be made, as to the possibility of 
 modifying the varieties of the salmo, by impregnating 
 the ova of one species with the spermatic fluid of 
 another. With fishes of other genera the task would 
 be still more easy. Carp, perch, and pike, deposit 
 their ova in still water in spring and summer, when it 
 is supplied with air by the growth of vegetables : and 
 it is to the leaves of plants, which afford a continual 
 supply of oxygen to the water, that the impregnated 
 eggs usually adhere ; so that researches of this kind 
 might be conducted within doors in close vessels, filled 
 with plants, exposed to the sun. I have myself kept 
 minnows and sticklebacks alive for many months in 
 
SECOND DAv.] BREEDING OF FISH, 76 
 
 the same confined quantity of water^ containing a few 
 confervse ; and their ova and milt increased in the 
 same manner, as if they had been in their natural 
 situation. 
 
 ORN. — I conclude from your statements, Halieus, 
 that nothing more is required for the production of 
 fishes from impregnated eggs, than a constant supply 
 of water of a certain temperature furnished with air ; 
 and of course the same principles will apply to fishes 
 of the sea. 
 
 HAL, — There can be no doubt of it : and fishes in 
 spawning time always approach great shallows, or 
 shores covered with weeds, that, in the process of 
 their growth, under the influence of the sunshine, 
 constantly supply pure air to the water in contact 
 with them. 
 
 POIET. — In every thing belonging to the economy 
 of nature, I find new reasons for wondering at the 
 designs of Providence, — at the infinite intelligence by 
 which so many complicated eflects are produced by 
 the most simple causes. The precipitation of water 
 from the atmosphere, its rapid motion in rivers, 
 and its falls in cataracts, not only preserve this 
 element pure, but give it its vitality, and render it 
 subservient even to the embryo life of the fish ; and 
 the storms which agitate the ocean, and mingle it 
 with the atmosphere, supply at once food to marine 
 
76 SALMONIA. [second day, 
 
 plants^ and afford a principle of life to the fishes 
 which inhabit its depths. So that the perturbation 
 and motion of the winds and waves possess a use^ 
 and ought to impress us with a beauty higher and 
 more delightful even than that of the peaceful and 
 glorious calm. 
 
THIRD DAY. 
 EALIEUS—POIETES—ORNnHER—PHYSICUS. 
 
 SCENE DENHAM. 
 
 Morning, 
 
 HAL. — You will soon take your leave^ gentlemen, 
 of this agreeable villa ; but we must catch at least two 
 brace of trout to carry with us to London, as a 
 present for two worthy patrons of the angle. For 
 though I know our liberal host will have a basket of 
 fish packed up for each of our party, yet fish taken 
 this morning will be imagined a more acceptable 
 present than those caught yesterday. The May-fly 
 is already upon the water, though not in great 
 quantity, and it will consequently be more easy to 
 catch the fish, which I see are rising with great 
 activity. I advise you to go to the deep water below, 
 where you will find the largest fish, and I will soon 
 follow you. 
 
 POIET. — I hope I shall catch a large fish, — a 
 
78 SALMONIA. [third day. 
 
 companion to that wliich. Ornitlier took yesterday 
 with a natural fly. 
 
 \_Halieus leaves them fishing, and returns to the house ; hut soon 
 comes back and joins his companions, whom he finds fishing 
 below in the river. ~\ 
 
 HAL. — Well, gentlemen, what sport ? 
 
 POIET. — The fish are rising everywhere; but 
 though we have been throwing over them with all 
 our skill for a quarter of an hour, yet not a single 
 one will take, and I am afraid we shall return to 
 breakfast without our prey. 
 
 HAL. — I will try ; but I shall go to the other side, 
 where I see a very large fish rising. There ! I have 
 him at the very first throw. Land this fish, and put 
 him into the well. Now I have another ; and I have 
 no doubt I could take half a dozen in this very place, 
 where you have been so long fishing without 
 success. 
 
 PHTS. — ^You must have a different fly; or have 
 you some unguent or charm to tempt the fish ? 
 
 HAL. — No such thing. If any of you will give me 
 your rod and fly, I will answer for it, I shall have 
 the same success. I take your rod, Physicus. — And 
 lo ! I have a fish ! 
 
 PHYS. — What can be the reason of this? It is 
 perfectly inexplicable to me. Yet Poietes seems to 
 
THIBD DAY.] SHADOWS. 79 
 
 throw as liglit as you do, and as well as he did 
 yesterday. 
 
 HAL. — I am surprised, that you, who are a philoso- 
 pher, cannot discover the reason of this. Think a 
 little. 
 
 ALL. — We cannot. 
 
 HAL, — As you are my scholars, I believe I must 
 teach you. The sun is bright, and you have been, 
 naturally enough, fishing with your backs to the sun, 
 w^hich, not being very high, has tlirown the shadows 
 of your rods and yourselves upon the water; and 
 you have alarmed the fish whenever you have thrown 
 a fly. You see I have fished with my face towards 
 the sun ; and though inconvenienced by the light, 
 have given no alarm. ToUow my example and you 
 will soon have sport, as there is a breeze playing on 
 the water. 
 
 PHTS. — Tour sagacity puts me in mind of an 
 anecdote which I remember to have heard respecting 
 the late eloquent statesman, Charles James Fox, who, 
 walking up Bond Street from one of the club-houses 
 with an illustrious personage, laid him a wager that 
 he would see more cats than the Prince in his walk, 
 and that he might take which side of the street he 
 liked. When they go to the top, it was found that 
 Mr. Fox had seen thirteen cats, and the Prince not 
 one. The royal personage asked for an explanation 
 
80 SALMOyiA. [THIRD DAY. 
 
 of this apparent miracle^ and Mr. Fox said, '' Your 
 Eojal Highness took, of course, the shady side of the 
 way, as most agreeable ; I knew that the sunny side 
 would be left to me, and cats always prefer the 
 sunshine/^ 
 
 EAL. — There! Poietes, by following my advice 
 you have immediately hooked a fish; and while you 
 are catching a brace, I will tell you an anecdote 
 which as much relates to fly-fishing as that of 
 Physicus ; and affords an elucidation of a particular 
 effect of light. 
 
 A manufacturer of carmine, who was aware of the 
 superiority of French colour, went to Lyons for the 
 purpose of improving his process, and bargained with 
 the most celebrated manufacturer in that capital for 
 the acquisition of his secret ; for which he was to pay 
 a thousand pounds. He was shown all the processes 
 and saw a beautiful colour produced, yet he found 
 not the least difference in the French mode of 
 fabrication and that wliich he had constantly adopted. 
 He appealed to the manufacturer, and insisted that 
 he must have concealed something. Tlie manufacturer 
 assured him that he had not, and invited him to see 
 the process a second time. He minutely examined 
 the water and the materials, which were the same as 
 his own; and, very much surprised, said, '^I have 
 lost my labour and my money, for the air of England 
 
THIRD DAY.] SUNSHINE, 81 
 
 does not permit us to make good carmine/^ " Stay/' 
 says the rrenchman^ '' do not deceive yourself : what 
 kind of weather is it now ?'^ ^^ A bright sunny day/' 
 said the Englishman. ^^ And such are the days/' said 
 the frenchman, "on which I make my colour. 
 Were I to attempt to manufacture it on a dark 
 or cloudy day^ my result would be the same as yours. 
 Let me advise you, my friend, always to make carmine 
 on bright and sunny days.'' "I will/' says the 
 Englishman; ""^but I fear I shall make very little 
 in London." 
 
 POIET. — Your anecdote is as much to the purpose 
 as that of Physicus ; yet I am much obliged to you 
 for the hint respecting the effect of shadow, for I have 
 several times in May and June had to complain of too 
 clear a sky, and wished, with Cotton, for 
 
 A day with not too bright a beam ; 
 A warm, but not a scorching, sun. 
 
 HAL. — ^Wliilst we have been conversing, the May- 
 flies, which were in such quantities, have become much 
 fewer; and I believe the reason is, that they have 
 been greatly diminished by the flocks of swallows, 
 which everyw'here pursue them : I have seen a single 
 swallow take four, in less than a quarter of a minute, 
 that were descending to the water. 
 
 POIET.— I delight in this living landscape ! The 
 
82 SALMOmA, [third day. 
 
 swallow is one of my favourite birds^ and a rival of 
 the nightingale : for he cheers my sense of hearing ; 
 he is the glad prophet of the year — the liarbinger of 
 the best season ; he lives a life of enjoyment amongst 
 the loveliest forms of nature -, winter is unknown to 
 him j and he leaves the green meadows of England 
 in autumn, for the myrtle and orange groves of Italy, 
 and for the palms of Africa : — he has always objects 
 of pursuit, and his success is secure. Even the 
 beings selected for his prey are poetical, beautiful, 
 and transient; the ephemerae are saved by his means 
 from a slow and lingering death in the evening, and 
 killed in a moment, when they have known notliing 
 of life but pleasure. He is the constant destroyer of 
 insects, — ^the friend of man ; and, with the stork and 
 the ibis, may be regarded as a sacred bird. His 
 instinct, which gives him his appointed seasons, and 
 teaches him always when and where to move, may be 
 regarded as flowing from a Divine Source ; and he 
 belongs to the Oracles of Nature, which speak the 
 awful and intelligible language of a present Deity. 
 
Sea Trout— Salmo Tmtta Marina. 
 
 Salmon— Salpio Salar. 
 
 FOURTH DAY. 
 HALIEUS--POIETES—ORNITHER—PHYSICUS. 
 
 FISHING FOR SALMON AND SEA TROUT. 
 
 Scene — Loch Maree, West of Rossliire, Scotland. 
 Time — Middle of July, 
 
 POIET. — I begin to be tired. This is really a 
 long day's journey ; and these last ten miles through 
 bogs, with no other view than that of mountains half 
 
 g2 
 
84 SALMONIA. ' [fourth day. 
 
 hid in mists, and brown waters that can hardly be 
 called lakes, and with no other trees than a few 
 stunted birches, that look so little alive, that they 
 might be supposed immediately descended from the 
 bogwood, every where scattered beneath our feet, 
 have rendered it extremely tedious. This is the 
 most barren part of one of the most desolate countries 
 I have ever passed tlirough in Europe ; and though 
 the inn at Strathgarve is tolerable, that of Auchnasheen 
 is certainly the worst I have ever seen, — and I hope 
 the worst I shall ever see. We ought to have good 
 amusement at Pool Ewe, to compensate us for this 
 uncomfortable day^s journey. 
 
 HAL — I trust we shall have sport, as far as 
 salmon and sea trout can furnish sport. But the 
 difficulties of our journey are almost over. See, Loch 
 Maree is stretched at our feet, and a good boat with 
 four oars will carry us in four or five hours to our 
 fishing ground; a time that will not be mispent, for 
 this lake is not devoid of beautiful, and even grand 
 scenery. 
 
 POIET, — ^The scenery begins to improve ; and that 
 cloud-breasted mountain on the left is of the best 
 character of Scotch mountains; these woods, like- 
 wise, are respectable for this northern country. I 
 tliink I see islands also in the distance; and the 
 quantity of cloud always gives effect to tliis kind of 
 
FOURTH DAT.] SCENERY. 85 
 
 view, — perhaps, without such assistance to the 
 imagination, there would be nothing even approaching 
 to the sublime in these countries ; but cloud and mist, 
 by creating obscurity and offering a substitute for 
 greatness and distance, give something of an Alpine 
 and majestic character to this region. 
 
 ORN. — As we are now fixed in our places in the 
 boat, you will surely put out a rod or two with a set 
 of flies, or try the tail of the par for a large trout or 
 salmon ; our fishing will not hinder our progress. 
 
 HAL. — In most other lakes I should do so; here I 
 have often tried the experiment, but never with 
 success. This lake is extremely deep, and there are 
 very few fish which haunt it generally except charr ; 
 and salmon seldom rest but in particular parts along 
 the shore, which we shall not touch. Our voyage 
 will be a picturesque, rather than an angling one. I 
 see we shall have little occasion for the oars, for a 
 strong breeze is rising, and blowing directly down the 
 lake ; we shall be in it in a minute. Hoist the sails ! 
 On we go ! — we shall make our voyage in half the 
 number of hours I had calculated upon ; and I hope 
 to catch a salmon in time for dinner. 
 
 POIET. — The scenery improves as we advance 
 nearer the lower parts of the lake. The mountains 
 become higher, and that small island or peninsula 
 presents a bold, craggy outKne ; and the birch wood 
 
8(5 SALMONIA. [fourth day. 
 
 below it, and the pines above, form a scene somewhat 
 Alpine in character. But what is that large bird 
 soaring above the pointed rock, towards the end of 
 the lake ? Surely it is an eagle ! 
 
 HAL. — You are right, it is an eagle, and of a rare 
 and peculiar species — the gray or silver eagle, a noble 
 bird ! From the size of the animal, it must be the 
 female ; and her aery is in that high rock. I dare 
 say the male is not far off. 
 
 PHTS, — I think I see another bird, of a smaller 
 size, perched on the rock below, which is similar in 
 form. 
 
 HAL. — You do : it is the consort of that beautiful 
 and powerful bird ; and I have no doubt their young 
 ones are near at hand. 
 
 POIET. — Look at the bird ! How she dashes into 
 the water, falling like a rock, and raising a column 
 of spray : she has dropt from a great height. And 
 now she rises again into the air : what an extraor- 
 dinary sight ! 
 
 HAL. — She is pursuing her prey, and is one of our 
 fraternity, — a catcher of fish. She has missed her 
 quarry this time, and has soared further down 
 towards the river, to fall again from a great height. 
 Tliere ! You see her rise with a fish in her 
 talons. 
 
 POIET. — She gives an interest to this scene, which 
 
FOURTH DAY.] THE EAGLE. 87 
 
 I hardly expected to have found. Pray are there 
 many of these animals in this country ? 
 
 HAL. — Of this species, I have seen but these two, 
 and I beheve the young ones migrate as soon as they 
 can provide for themselves; for this solitary bird 
 requires a large space to move and feed in, and does 
 not allow its offspring to partake its reign, or to live 
 near it. Of other species ol the eagle, there are 
 some in different parts of the mountains, particularly 
 of the Osprey, and of the great fishing or brown 
 eagle. I once saw a very fine and interesting sight 
 above one of the Crags of Ben Weevis, near Strath- 
 garve, as I was going, on the 20th of August, in 
 pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were 
 teaching their offspring, — two . young birds, the 
 manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from the 
 top of a mountain in the eye of the sun ; — it was about 
 midday, and bright for this climate. They at first 
 made small circles, and the young birds imitated • 
 them ; they paused on their wings, waiting till they 
 had made their first flight, and then took a second 
 and larger gyration, — always rising towards the sun, 
 and enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a 
 gradually extending spiral. The young ones still 
 slowly followed, apparently flying better as they 
 mounted ; and they continued this sublime kind of 
 exercise, always rising, till they became mere points 
 
83 SALMONIA. [fourth t>ay. 
 
 in the air^ and tlie young ones were lost, and after- 
 wards their parents, to our aching sight.* But we 
 have touched the shore, and the lake has terminated ; 
 you are now on the river Ewe. 
 
 POIET. — Are we to fish here ? It is a broad clear 
 stream, but I see no fish, and cannot think it a good 
 angling river. 
 
 * [This incident, so poetical, the Author first described in verse, with 
 aspirations that can hardly fail to interest the general reader — J.D.] 
 
 THE EAGLES. 
 " The mighty birds still upwards rose, 
 In slow, but constant, and most steady flight. 
 The young ones following ; and they would pause 
 As if to teach them how to bear the light, 
 And keep the solar glory full in sight ! 
 So went they on, till, from excess of pain, 
 I could no longer bear the scorching rays ; 
 And, when I looked again, they were not seen, 
 Lost in the brightness of the solar blaze. 
 Their memory left a type, and a desire : 
 So should I wish towards the light to rise. 
 Instructing younger spirits to aspire 
 Where I could never reach amidst the skies. 
 And joy below to see them lifted higher, 
 Seeking the light of purest glory's prize ; 
 So would I look on splendour's brightest day, 
 With an undazzled eye, and steadily 
 Soar upwards full in the immortal ray, 
 Through the blue depths of the unbounded sky, 
 Pourtraying wisdom's boundless purity. 
 Before me still a lingering ray appears, 
 But broken and prismatic, seen thio' tears. 
 The light of joy and immortality." 
 
FOURTH DAY.] THE IJSfN. 89 
 
 EAL. — ^We are nearly a mile above our fishing 
 station^ and we must first see our quarters and 
 provide for our lodgings before we begin our fishing : 
 to the inn we have only a short walk. 
 
 POIET. — Whv this inn is a second edition of 
 Auchnasheen. 
 
 HAL. — The interior is better than the exterior, 
 thanks to the Laird of Brahan. We shall find one 
 tolerable room and bed, and we must put up our 
 cots and provide our food. What is our store, 
 Mr. Purveyor ? 
 
 PHYS. — I know we have good bread, tea, and 
 sugar. Then there is the quarter of roebuck, presented 
 to us at Gordon Castle; and Ornither has furnished 
 us with a brace of wild ducks, three leash of snipes, 
 and a brace of golden plovers, by his mountain 
 expedition of yesterday ; and for fish we depend on 
 you. Yet our host says there are fresh herrings to 
 be had, and small cod-fish, and salmon, and trout in 
 any quantity; and the claret and the Ferintosh are 
 safe. 
 
 HAL. — Why we shall fare sumptuously. As it is 
 not time yet for shooting grouse, we must divide our 
 spoil for the few days we shall stay here. Yet there 
 are young snipes and plovers on the mountains above, 
 and I have no doubt we might obtain the Laird's 
 permission to kill a roebuck in the woods, or a hart 
 
90 SALMONIA. [fourth day, 
 
 on the mountains ; but this is always an uncertain 
 event, and I advise you, Ornither, to become a 
 fisherman. 
 
 ORN. — I shall wait till I see the results of your 
 skill. At all events, in this country I can never 
 w^ant amusement ; and, I dare say, there are plenty 
 of seals at the mouth of the river, and killing them is 
 more useful to other fishermen than catching fish. 
 
 HAL. — Let there be a kettle of water, with salt, 
 ready boiling in an hour, mine host, for the fish we 
 catch or buy; and see that the potatoes are well 
 dressed — the servants will look to the rest of our 
 fare. Now for our rods. 
 
 POIET. — This is a fine river; clear, full, but not 
 too large; with the two handed rod it may be 
 commanded in most parts. , 
 
 HAL. — It is larger than usual. The strong mnd 
 wliich brought as so quickly down has made it fuller ; 
 and it is not in such good order for fishing as it was 
 before the wind rose. 
 
 POIET. — I thought the river was all the better for 
 a flood, when clear. 
 
 HAL. — Better after a flood from rain; for this 
 brings the fish up, who know wdien rain is coming, and 
 likewdse brings down food and makes the fish feed. 
 But when the water is raised by a strong wind, the 
 fish never run, as they are sure to find no increase 
 
FOURTH DAY.] THE EWE. 91 
 
 in the spring heads, which are their objects in 
 running. 
 
 POIET. — You give the fish credit for great sagacity. 
 
 HAL. — Call it instinct rather; for if they reasoned, 
 they would run with every large water, whether from 
 wind or rain. What the feeling or power is, which 
 makes them travel with rain, I will not pretend to 
 define. But now for our sport. 
 
 POIET. — The fish are beginning to rise; I have 
 seen two here already, and there is a third, and a 
 fourth ; scarcely a quarter of a minute elapses without 
 a fish rising in some part of the pool. 
 
 HAL. — ^As the day is dark, I shall use a bright and 
 rather a large fly, with ja/s hackle, kingfisher^s 
 feather under the wing, and golden pheasant^s tail, 
 and wing of mixed grouse, and argus pheasant's tail. 
 I shall throw over these fish ; I ought to raise one. 
 
 POIET. — Either you are not skilful, or the fish 
 know their danger. They will not rise. 
 
 HAL. — I will try another and a smaller fiy. 
 
 POIET. — You do nothing. 
 
 HAL. — I have changed my fly a third time, yet no 
 fish rises. I cannot understand this. The water is 
 not in good order, or I should certainly have raised a 
 fish or two. Now I will wager ten to one, that this 
 pool has been fished before to-day. 
 
 ORN.—Bj whom ? 
 
92 SALMON! A. [foukth day, 
 
 HAL, — I know not; but take my wager and we 
 will ascertain. 
 
 ORN. — I shall ascertain without the wager if 
 possible. See, a man connected with the fishery 
 advances, let us ask him. There you see; it has 
 been fished once or twice by one, who claims without 
 charter the right of angling. 
 
 HAL. — I told you so. Now I know this, I shall 
 put on another kind of fly, such as I am sure they 
 have not seen this day. 
 
 POIET. — It is very small and very gaudy, I believe 
 made with humming bird^s feathers. 
 
 HAL. — No, — ^the brightest Java dove's hackle, 
 kingfisher's blue, and golden pheasant's feathers, and 
 the red feathers of the paroquet. There was a fish 
 that rose and missed the fly — a sea trout. There, he 
 has taken it, a fresh run fish, from his white beUy and 
 blue back. 
 
 POIET. — How he springs out of the water ! He 
 must be 6 or 7 lbs. 
 
 HAL — Under five, I am sure; he will soon be 
 tired. He fights with less spirit : put the net under 
 him. There, he is a fine fed sea trout, between 4 and 
 5 lbs. But our intrusive brother angler (as I must 
 call him) is coming down the river to take his evening 
 cast. A stout Highlander, with a powerful tail, — or, 
 as we should call it in England, suite. He is resolved 
 
FOUBTHDAY.] SEA TROUT. 98 
 
 not to be driven off, and I am not sure that the Laird 
 himself could divert him from his purpose, except by 
 a stronger tail, and force of arms ; but I will try my 
 eloquence upon liim. '^ Sir, we hope you will excuse 
 us for fishing in this pool, where it seems you were 
 going to take your cast ; but the Laird has desired us 
 to stand in his shoes for a few days, and has given up 
 angling while we are here ; and as we come nearly a 
 thousand miles for this amusement, we are sure you 
 are too much of a gentleman to spoil our sport ; and 
 we wiU take care to supply your fish kettle while we 
 are here, morning and evening, and we shall send 
 you, as we hope, a salmon before night/' 
 
 POIET. — He grumbles good sport to us, and is ofi* 
 with his tail : you have hit him in the right place. 
 He is a pot fisher, I am sure, and somewhat hungry, 
 and, provided he gets the salmon, does not care who 
 catches it ! 
 
 HAL.— r-YoVi are severe on the Highland gentleman, 
 and I tliink extremely unjust. Nothing could be 
 more ready than his. assent, and a keen fisherman 
 must not be expected to be in the best possible 
 humour, when he finds sport which he believes he has 
 a right to, and which perhaps he generally enjoys 
 without interruption, taken away from him by entire 
 strangers. There is, I know, a disputed point about 
 fishing with the rod, between him and the Laird; 
 
04 SALMONIA. [fourth day. 
 
 and it would have been too much to have anticipated 
 a courteous greeting from one, who considers us as 
 the representatives of an enemy. But I see there is 
 a large fish which has just risen at the tail of the pool. 
 I think he is fresh run from the sea, for the tide is 
 coming in. My fly and tackle are almost too fine for 
 so large a fish, and I will put on my first fly wdth a 
 very strong single gut link and a stretcher of triple 
 gut. He has taken my fly, and I hold liim — a 
 powerful fish: he must be between 10 and 15 lbs. 
 He fights well, and tries to get up the rapid at the 
 top of the pool. I must try my strength with him, 
 to keep him off that rock, or he will break me. I 
 have turned him, and he is now in a good part of the 
 pool : such a fish cannot be tired in a minute or two, 
 but requires from ten to twenty — depending upon his 
 activity and strength, and the rapidity of the stream 
 he moves against. He is now playing against the 
 strongest rapid in the river, and will soon give in, 
 should he keep his present place. 
 
 POIET. — You have tired liim. 
 
 HAL, — He seems fairly tired : I shall bring him in 
 to shore. Now gaff liim ; strike as near the tail as 
 you .can. He is safe ; we must prepare him for the 
 pot. Give him a stunning blow on the head to 
 deprive him of sensation, and then make a transverse 
 cut just below the gills, and crimp him, by cutting to 
 
FOURTH DAY.] DRESSING SALMON. 95 
 
 the bona on each side, so as almost to divide him into 
 slices : and now hold him bj the tail that he may 
 bleed. There is a small spring, I see, close under 
 that bank, which I dare say has the mean temperature 
 of the atmosphere in this climate, and is much under 
 50° — ^place him there, and let him remain for ten 
 minutes ; then carry him to the pot, and before you 
 put in a slice let the water and salt boil furiously, and 
 give time to the water to recover its heat before you 
 throw in another; and so proceed with the whole 
 fish : leave the head out, and throw in the thickest 
 pieces first. 
 
 PHYS. — Why did you not crimp your trout ? 
 
 HAL, — ^We will have him fried. Our poacher 
 prevented me from attending to the preparation ; but 
 for frying he is better not crimped, as he is not large 
 enough to give good transverse slices. 
 
 POIET, — This salmon is a good fish, and fresh as 
 you said from the sea. You see the salt-water louse 
 adheres to his sides, and he is bright and silvery, and 
 a thick fish ; I dare say his weight is not less than 
 141bs., and I know of no better fish for the table 
 than one of that size. 
 
 PHYS, — It appears to me that so powerful a fish 
 ought to have struggled much longer : yet, without 
 great exertions on your part, in ten minutes he 
 appeared quite exhausted, and lay on his side as if 
 
SALMONIA, [fourth day. 
 
 dying : this induces me to suppose, that there must 
 be some truth in the vulgar opinion of anglers, that 
 fish are, as it were, drowned by the play of the rod 
 and reel. 
 
 HAL. — The vulgar opinion of anglers on this 
 subject I believe to be perfectly correct ; though, to 
 apply the word drowning to an animal that lives in 
 the water is not quite a fit use of language. Fish, 
 as you ought to know, respire by passing water, 
 which always holds common air in solution, through 
 their gills or branchial membrane, by the use of a 
 system of muscles surrounding the fauces, which 
 occasion constant contractions and expansions, or 
 openings and closings of this membrane, and the 
 life of the fish is dependent on the process in 
 the same manner as that of a quadruped is on in- 
 spiring and expiring air. When a fish is hooked 
 in the upper part of the mouth by the strength of the 
 rod applied as a lever to the line, it is scarcely 
 possible for him to open the gills as long as this 
 force is exerted, particularly when he is moving in 
 a rapid stream ; and when he is hooked in the lower 
 jaw, his mouth is kept closed by the same application 
 of the strength of the rod, so that no aerated water 
 can be inspired. Under these circumstances he is 
 quickly deprived of liis vital forces, particularly when 
 he exhausts his strength by moving in a rapid stream. 
 
FOURTH DAY.] SALMON, 97 
 
 A fish, hooked in a part of the mouth where the 
 force of the rod will render his efforts to respire 
 unavailing^ is much in the same state as that of a 
 deer caught round the neck by the lasso of a South 
 American peon, who gallops forwards, dragging his 
 victim after liim, which is killed by strangulation in a 
 very short time. When fishes are hooked foul, that 
 is, on the outside of the body, as in the fins or tail, 
 they will often fight for many hours, and in such 
 cases very large salmon are seldom caught, as they 
 retain their powers of breathing unimpaired; and 
 if they do not exhaust themselves by violent muscular 
 efforts, they may bid defiance to the temper and the 
 skill of the fisherman. A large salmon, hooked in 
 the upper part of the mouth in the cartilage or bone 
 will sometimes likewise fight for a long while, parti- 
 cularly if he keep in the deep and still parts of the 
 river, for he is able to prevent the force of the hook, 
 applied by the rod, from interfering with his respira- 
 tion, and by a powerful effort, can maintain his place, 
 and continue to breathe in spite of the exertions of the 
 angler. A fish, in such case, is said to be sulky, and 
 his instinct, or his sagacity, generally enables him to 
 conquer his enemy. It is, however, rarely that fishes 
 hooked in the mouth are capable of using freely the 
 muscles subservient to respiration ; and their powers 
 are generally, sooner or later, destroyed by suffocation. 
 
SALMONIA. [fourth day. 
 
 POIET. — The explanation that you have just been 
 giving us of the effects of playing fish, I confess 
 alarms me, and makes me more afraid than I was 
 before, that we are pursuing a very cruel amusement ; 
 for death by strangulation, I conceive, must be very 
 laborious, slow, and painful. 
 
 PHYS. — I think as I did before I was an angler, 
 as to the merciless character of field-sports; but I 
 doubt if this part of the process of the fly-fisher 
 ought so strongly to alarm your feelings. As far as 
 analogies from warm-blooded animals can apply to 
 the case, the death that follows obstructed respiration 
 is quick, and preceded by insensibility. There are 
 many instances of persons who have recovered from 
 the apparent death produced by drowning, and had 
 no recollection of any violent or intense agony; 
 indeed, the alarm or passion of fear generally absorbs 
 all the sensibility, and the physical suffering is lost in 
 the mental agitation. I can answer from my own 
 experience, that there is no pain which precedes the 
 insensibility occasioned by breathing gases unfitted 
 for supporting life, but oftener a pleasurable feehng, 
 as in the case of the respiration of nitrous oxide. 
 And in the suffocation produced by the gradual 
 abstraction of air in a close room where charcoal is 
 burning, we have the record of the son of a celebrated 
 chemist, that the sensation which precedes the deep 
 
FOURTH DAY.] DEA TH BY SUFFOCA TlOJSr. 99 
 
 sleep that ends in death is agreeable. There is far 
 more pain in recovering from the insensibility 
 produced by the abstraction of air than in under- 
 going it^ as I can answer from my own feelings; 
 and it is^ I believe^ quite true_, what has been 
 asserted^ that the pain of being born, which is 
 acquiring the power of respiration, is greater than 
 that of dying, which is losing the power. 
 
 OEN. — I have heard, that persons who have been 
 recovered from the insensibility produced by hanging, 
 have never any recollection of the sufferings which 
 preceded it; and as the blood is immediately 
 determined to the head in this operation, probably 
 apoplectic insensibility is almost instantaneous. 
 
 RAL. — ^The laws of nature are all directed by 
 Divine Wisdom for the purpose of preserving hfe 
 and increasing happiness. Pain seems in all cases 
 to precede the mutilation or destruction of those 
 organs which are essential to vitality, and for t/ie end 
 of preserving them; but the mere process of dying 
 seems to be the falling into a deep slumber ; and in 
 animals, who have no fear of death dependent upon 
 imagination, it can hardly be accompanied by very 
 intense suffering. In the human being moral and 
 intellectual motives constantly operate in enhancing 
 the fear of death, w'hich, without these motives in a 
 reasoning being, would probably become null, and the 
 
 h2 
 
100 8ALM0NIA. [fourth day. 
 
 love of life be lost upon every slight occasion of pain 
 or disgust ; but imagination is creative with respect 
 to both these passions, which, if they exist in animals, 
 exist independent of reason, or as instincts. Pain 
 seems intended by an all- wise Providence to prevent 
 the dissolution of organs, and cannot follow their 
 destruction, I know several instances in which the 
 process of death has been observed, even to its 
 termination, by good philosophers ; and the instances 
 are worth repeating : Dr. Cullen, when dying, is said 
 to have faintly articulated to one of his intimates, '^ I 
 wish I had the power of writing, or speaking, for 
 then I would describe to you how pleasant a thing it 
 is to die : '' Dr. Black, worn out by age and a 
 disposition to pulmonary hemorrhage, which obliged 
 him to live very low, whilst eating his customary 
 meal of bread and milk, fell asleep, and died in so 
 tranquil a manner, that he did not even spill the con- 
 tents of the basin which rested on his knee ; and the 
 late Sir Charles Blagden, whilst at a social meal with his 
 friends, Mons. and Mad. Berthollet, and Gay-Lussac, 
 died in his chair so quietly, that not a drop of the 
 coffee in the cup, which he held in his hand, was spilt. 
 
 POIET. — Give us no more such instances, for I do 
 not think it wise to diminish the love of life, or to 
 destroy the fear of death. 
 
 HAL. — ^There is no danger of this. These passions 
 
FOTTRTU DAY.] NATURE OF PAIN. 101 
 
 are founded on immutable laws of our nature, wliicli 
 pliilosophy cannot change ; and it would be good if 
 we could give the same security of duration to the 
 love of virtue and the fear of vice or shame, which 
 are connected with immutable interests, and which 
 ought to occupy far more the consideration of beings 
 destined for immortality. But to our business. 
 
 Now we have fish for dinner, my task is finished : 
 Physicus and Poietes, try your skill. I have not 
 fished over the best parts of this pool : you may catch 
 a brace of fish here before dinner is readj^. 
 
 PHYS. — It is too late, and I shall go and see that 
 all is right. 
 
 POIET. — I will take one or two casts; but give 
 me your fly ; I like always to be sure that the tackle 
 is taking. 
 
 HAL, — Try at first the very top of the pool, though 
 I fear you will get nothing there ; but here is a cast 
 which I think the Highlander can hardly have 
 commanded from the other side, and which is 
 rarely without a good fish. There, he rose ; a large 
 trout of 10 lbs., or a salmon. Now wait a few 
 minutes. When a fish has missed the fiy, he will 
 not rise again till after a pause — particularly if he 
 has been for some time in the fresh water. Now try 
 him again. He has risen, but he is a dark fish that 
 has been some time in the water, and he tries to 
 
102 SALMONIA. [fourth day. 
 
 drown the flj with a blow of liis tail. I fear you 
 will not hook him except foul^ when most likely 
 he would break you. Try the bottom of the pool, 
 below where I caught my fish. 
 
 POIET. — I have tried all the casts and nothing rises. 
 
 HAL. — Come, we will change the fly for that which 
 I used. 
 
 POIET. — Now I have one; he has taken the fly 
 under water, and I cannot see him. 
 
 HAL. — Straighten your line, and we shall soon see 
 him. He is* a sea trout, but not a large one. 
 
 POIET. — But he fights like a salmon, and must be 
 near 5 lbs. 
 
 HAL. — Under 3 lbs. ; but these fish are always 
 strong and active, and sometimes give more sport 
 than larger fish. Shorten your line, or he will carry 
 you over the stones and cut the link gut. He is 
 there already; you have allowed him to carry out 
 too much line : wind up as quick as you can, and 
 keep a tight hand upon him. He is now back to a 
 good place, and in a few minutes more will be spent. 
 I have the net. There, he is a sea trout of nearly 
 3 lbs. This will be a good addition to our dinner ; 
 I will crimp him, that you may compare boiled sea 
 trout mth broiled, and with salmon. Now, if you 
 please, we will cool this fish at the spring, and then 
 go to our inn. 
 
FOURTH DAY.] CBIMPING. l03 
 
 POIET. — If you like. I am endeavouring to find a 
 reason for tlie effect of crimping and cold in 
 preserving the curd of fish. Have you ever thought 
 on this subject ? 
 
 HAL. — Yes; I conclude that the fat of salmon 
 between the fiakes of the muscles is mixed with 
 much albumen and gelatine, and is extremely liable 
 to decompose, and by keeping it cool, the decompo- 
 sition is retarded ; and by the boiling salt and water, 
 which is of a higher temperatui'e than that of common 
 boiling water, the albumen is coagulated, and the 
 curdiness preserved. The crimping, by preventing 
 the irritability of the fibre from being gradually 
 exhausted, seems to preserve it so hard and crisp, 
 that it breaks under the teeth ; and a fresh fish not 
 crimped is generally tough. A friend of mine, an 
 excellent angler, has made some experiments on the 
 fat of fish ; and he considers the red colour of trout, 
 salmon, and charr, as owing to a peculiar coloured oil, 
 which may be extracted by alcohol; and this accounts 
 for the want of it in fish that have fed ill, and after 
 spawning. In general the depth of the red colour 
 and the quantity of curd are proportional. 
 
 POIET. — Would not the fish be still better, or at 
 least possess more curd, if caught in a net and 
 killed immediately ? In the operation of tiring 
 by the reel there must be considerable muscular 
 
104 SALMONIA. [fourth day. 
 
 exertion^ and I should suppose expenditure of oily 
 matter. 
 
 HAL. — There can be no doubt but the fish would 
 be in a more perfect state for the table from the nets ; 
 yet a fish in high season does not lose so much fat 
 during the short time he is on the hook, as to make 
 much difference ; and I am not sure, that the action 
 of crimping after does not give a better sort of 
 crispness to the fibre. This, however, may be fancy ; 
 we will discuss the matter again at table. See ! our 
 companion on the lake, the eagle, is coming down 
 the river, and lias pounced upon a fish in the pool 
 near the sea. 
 
 PHTS. — I fear he will interfere with our sport : let 
 us request Ornither to shoot him. I wish to see him 
 nearer, and to preserve him as a specimen for the 
 Zoological Society. 
 
 HAL. — ! no. He wiU not spoil our sport ; and 
 I think it would be a pity to deprive this spot of one 
 of its poetical ornaments. Besides, the pool where he 
 is now fishing contains scarcely any thing but trout; 
 it is too shallow for salmon, who run into the cruives. 
 
 POIET. — I am of your opinion, and shall use my 
 eloquence to prevent Ornither from attempting the 
 life of so beautiful a bird ; so majestic in its form, so 
 well suited to the scenery, and so picturesque in all 
 its habits. 
 
FouETH DAY.] THE DINNER. 105 
 
 THE INNKEEPER, — Gentlemen, dinner is ready : — 
 
 THE DINNER. 
 
 HAL, — Now take your places. What tliink you 
 of our fish ? 
 
 PHYS. — I never ate better; but I want the 
 Harvey or Reading sauce. 
 
 HAL. — ^Pray let me entreat you to use no other 
 sauce than the water in which he was boiled. I 
 assure you this is the true Epicurean way of eating 
 fresh salmon : and for the trout, use only a little 
 vinegar and mustard, — a sauce a la Tartare, without 
 the onions. 
 
 POIET. — ^Well, nothing can be better ; and I do 
 not think fresh net-caught fish can be superior 
 to these. 
 
 HAL. — And these snipes are excellent. Either my 
 journey has given me an appetite, or 1 think they are 
 the best I ever tasted. 
 
 ORN. — They are good, but I have tasted better. 
 
 HAL. — ^Where ? 
 
 ORN. — On the continent; where the common 
 snipe, that rests during its migration from the north 
 to the south in the marshes of Italy and Carniola, 
 and the double or solitary snipe, become so fat, as 
 to resemble that bird, wliich was formerly fattened 
 
106 SALMONIA. [fourth day. 
 
 in Lincolnsliire, the ruff; and they have, I tliink, a 
 better flavour from being fed on their natural food. 
 . HAL. — At what time have you eaten them ? 
 
 ORN, — I have eaten them both in spring and 
 autumn; but the autumnal birds are the best, and 
 are like the ortolan of Italy. 
 
 HAL — ^Where does the double snipe winter ? 
 
 ORK — I believe in Africa and Asia Minor. They 
 are rarely seen in England, except driven by an 
 east wind in the spring, or by a strong north wind in 
 the autumn. Their natural progress is to and from 
 Finland and Siberia, through the continent of Europe, 
 to and from the east and south.* In autumn they 
 pass more east, both because they are aided by west 
 
 * From the food, and the remains of food found in the stomach of the 
 douhle snipe, T think I have ascertained, that it requires a kind of worm 
 which is not found in winter even in the temperate climes of Europe ; 
 and that it feeds differently from the snipe. There are certainly none 
 found after the end of October in either Illyria or Italy; and I believe 
 the same may be said of the end of May, as to their summer migration, 
 or their breeding migration. I have opened the stomachs of at least a 
 dozen of these birds, and their contents were always of the same kind; 
 long slender white hexapode larvae, or their skins, of different sizes, 
 from that of the maggot of the horse-fly to one thrice as long. I 
 believe all these insects were the larvae of tibulae of different species. 
 In the stomach of the common snipe, which is stronger and larger, I 
 have generally found earth-worms, and often seeds, and rice, and 
 gravel. I conjecture, that, in the temperate climates of Europe, most 
 of the aquatic larvae on which the solitary snipe feeds are converted 
 into flies in the late spring and autumn, which probably limits the 
 period of their migration. In 1827 the solitary snipe passed through 
 
FOURTH DAY.] DOUBLE SNIPE. 107 
 
 winds, and because the marshes in the east of Europe 
 are wetter in that season : and in spring they return, 
 
 Italy and Illyria between the 15th of March and the 6th of May. I 
 heard of the first at Ravenna the 1 7th of March, and I shot two near 
 Laybach on the 5th of May ; but though I was continually searching 
 for them a fortnight after, I found no more. This year they returned 
 from the north early ; and I saw some in the marshes of Illyria on 
 the 19th of August. In 1828 they were later in their vernal passage, 
 and likewise in their return. I found them in Illyria through May, 
 as late as the 17th, on which day I shot three, and they did not re- 
 appear till the beginning of September. I found one on the 3rd, and 
 three on the 4th, and twenty were shot on the 7th. 
 
 As this bird is rarely seen in England, I shall mention its pecu- 
 liarities. It is more than one-third larger than the common snipe, and 
 has a breast spotted with gray feathers. Its beak is shorter than that 
 of the snipe ; the old ones have feathers almost pure white in their 
 tails, and as they spread them when rising, they are easily distinguished 
 by this character from the snipe ; but in the young birds that I have 
 seen in August, this character was wanting. They are usually very 
 fat, particularly the young birds ; their weight varies from six to nine 
 ounces ; but even the fattest ones are rarely above seven ounces and a 
 half ; and though I have killed more than a hundred, I can speak of 
 half-a-dozen only that weighed above eight ounces and a half. In 
 spring they are usually found in pairs, the female being rather larger, 
 and having a paler breast ; in autumn they are solitary. They prefer 
 wet meadows to bogs, or large, deep marshes. They usually lie closer 
 than snipes, and seldom fly far ; their flight is straight, like that of 
 a jack snipe, and they are easily shot. 
 
 Attention to the migrations of birds might, I have no doubt, lead to 
 important indications respecting the character and changes of the weather 
 and the seasons. The late migration of the solitary snipe this year 
 (1828) seems to have been an indication of a wet and backward summer 
 in the north of Europe. But to form opinions upon facts of this kind 
 requires much knowledge and caution. The perfection of the larvae of 
 the tibulae on which this snipe feeds, depends upon a number of 
 
108 SALMOJSriA. [fourth day. 
 
 but the larger proportion through Italy, where they 
 are carried by the Siivcco, and which at that time is 
 extrejnely wet. Come, let us have another bottle of 
 claret : a pint per man is not too much after such a 
 da/s fatigue. 
 
 HAL. — You have made me president for these four 
 days, and I forbid it. A half pint of wine for young 
 men in perfect health is enough, and you will be able 
 to take your exercise better, and feel better for this 
 abstinence. How few people calculate upon the 
 effects of constantly renewed fever in our luxurious 
 system of living in England ! The heart is made to 
 act too powerfully, the blood is thrown upon the 
 nobler parts, and, with the system of wading adopted 
 by some sportsmen, whether in shooting or fishing, is 
 delivered either to the hemorrhoidal veins, or, what is 
 worse, to the head. I have known several free livers, 
 who have terminated their lives by apoplexy, or have 
 been rendered miserable by palsy, in consequence of 
 the joint effects of cold feet and too stimulating a diet; 
 that is to say, as much animal food as they could eat, 
 with a pint or perhaps a bottle of wine per day. Be 
 guided by me, my friends, and neither drink nor wade. 
 
 circumstanres — the temperature of the last year, the period when the 
 eggs were laid, the heat of the water when they were deposited, and 
 the quantity of rain since. The migration of the solitary snipe is only 
 one link in a great chain of causes and effects, all connected, and 
 extending from Africa to Siberia. 
 
FOURTH DAY.] WADING. 109 
 
 I know there are old men who have done both, and 
 have enjoyed perfect health ; but these are devil's decoys 
 to the unwary, and ten suffer for one that escapes. I 
 could quote to you an instance from this very county, 
 in one of the strongest men I have ever known. He 
 was not intemperate, but he lived luxuriously, ^nd 
 waded as a salmon fisher for many years in this very 
 river ; but before he was fifty, palsy deprived him of 
 the use of his limbs, and he is still a living example 
 of the danger of the system which you are ambitious 
 of adopting. 
 
 ORN. — Well, I give up the wine, but I intend to 
 wade in Hancock^s boots to-morrow. 
 
 HAL. — Wear them, but do not wade in them. The 
 feet become cold in a stream of water constantly passing 
 over the caoutchouc and leather, notwithstanding the 
 thick stockings. They are good for keeping the feet 
 warm, and I think where there is exercise, as in snipe 
 shooting, they may be used without any bad effects. 
 But I advise no one to stand still (which an angler 
 must do sometimes) in the water, even with these 
 ingenious water-proof inventions. All anglers should 
 remember old Boerhaave^s maxim of health, and act 
 upon it : " Keep the feet warm, the head cool, and 
 the body open.-*^ * 
 
 PHYS, — I am sorry we did not examine more 
 
 * [The above cautions, as regards " drinking," and high living, are 
 
110 8ALM0NIA. [fourth day. 
 
 minutely the weight and size of the fish we caught, 
 and compare the anatomy of the salmon and the sea 
 trout j but we were in too great a hurry to see them 
 on the table, and our philosophy yielded to our 
 hunger. 
 
 EAL. — We shall have plenty of opportunities for 
 this examination; and v/e can now walk down to the 
 fishing-house and see probably half a hundred fish of 
 different sizes, that have been taken in the cruives, 
 this evening, and examine them at our leisure. 
 
 ALL. — Let us go ! 
 
 PHYS. — I never saw so many fish of this kind 
 before ; and I conclude that heap of smaller fish is 
 composed of trout. 
 
 HAL. — Certainly. Let us compare one of the 
 
 warranted by the amplest experience ; but, in relation to wading, they 
 may be considered as severe, and of questionable propriety. In mode- 
 ration, especially in autumn, when our rivers are comparatively warm, 
 I am disposed to think that wading may be practised with little if any 
 risk by those of sound constitution, and with some benefit even, using 
 shoes or boots so perforated as not to confine the water, and wearing 
 worsted stockings. Such a foot bath as is thus obtained is an excellent 
 remedy for corns, superior to any other I am acquainted with ; it also 
 diminishes fatigue and makes the exercise more agreeable, as well as 
 ensures better sport. With all deference to the received maxim of 
 Boerhaave — just, in just degree, — it is well to remember, that the 
 human feet are unprotected by hair, as if it were the intention of 
 nature that they should be cool. Water-proof boots, unless when 
 wading, are, to the majority of anglers, intolerable, being so heating and 
 wearjing. — J. D.] 
 
FOURTH DAY.] TROUT AND SALMON COMPARED, 111 
 
 largest trout with a salmon. I have selected two 
 fresh run fish,* which, from their curved lower jaws, 
 are, I conclude, both males. The salmon you see 
 is broader, has a tail rather more forked, and the 
 teeth in proportion are rather smaller. The trout, 
 likewise, has larger and more black brown spots on the 
 body ; and the head of the trout is a little larger in 
 proportion. The salmon has 14 spines in the pectoral 
 fins, 10 in each of the ventral, 13 in the anal, 21 in 
 the caudal, and 15 in the dorsal. The salmon mea- 
 sures 38| inches in length, and 21 inches in girth, 
 and his weight, as you see, is 22^1bs. The trout has 
 one spine less in the pectoral, and two less in the anal 
 fin, and measures 30 J inches in length, and 16 inches 
 in girth, and his weight is lllbs. We will now open 
 them. The stomach of the salmon, you perceive, 
 contains nothing but a little yellow fluid, and, though 
 the salmon is twice as large, does not exceed mu.ch in 
 size that of the trout. The stomach of the trout, 
 unlike that of the salmon, will be found full of food : 
 we will open it. See, there are half digested sand 
 eels wliich come out of it. 
 
 PHTS. — But surely tlie stomachs of salmon must 
 sometimes, when opened/ contain food ? 
 
 HAL. — I have opened ten or twelve, and never 
 found anything in their stomachs but tape-worms, 
 
 * See Vignettes, p. 83. 
 
112 SALMONIA, [fourth day. 
 
 bred there, and some yellow fluid ; but, I believe this 
 is generally owing to their being caught at the time of 
 migration, when they are travelling from the sea 
 upwards, and do not willingly load themselves with 
 food. Their digestion appears to be very quick, and 
 their habits seem to show, that after having taken a 
 bait in the river they do not usually seek another till 
 the work of digestion is nearly performed : but when 
 they are taken at sea, and in rivers in the winter, food, 
 I am told, is sometimes found in their stomachs.* 
 The sea trout is a much more voracious fish, and hke 
 the land trout, is not willingly found with an empty 
 stomach. 
 
 PHYS. — I presume the sea trout is the fish called 
 by Linnaeus, in his Fauna, Salmo Eriox ? 
 
 HAL. — I know not: but I should rather think 
 that fish a variety of the common salmon.f 
 
 PHYS. — But there are surely other species of 
 salmon, that live in the sea and come into our rivers : 
 I have heard of fish called grays, hull trout, scurfs, 
 morts, peales, and whitlings, 
 
 HAL, — I have never been able to identify more than 
 
 * [By an experienced salmon fisher on the Tay, I have heen informed 
 that he often found food in the stomach of the Salmon, such as minnow, 
 small trouts, and earth worms ; and that not unfrequently he has 
 witnessed it feeding greedily, taking a bait ravenously, not repulsed 
 even by the prick of the hook. — J. D.J 
 
 •f See note, p. 64. 
 
FOURTH DAY.] VARIETIES OF SALMON. 113 
 
 the salmo solar, or salmon, and salmo trutta, or sea 
 trout, in the rivers of Britain and Ireland. The 
 whitlings I believe to be the young of the sea trout. 
 A sea trout which I saw in Ireland, called a bull trout, 
 was of the same kind as these you see here ; but fresh 
 water trout are sometimes carried in floods to the sea, 
 and come back larger and altered in colour and form, 
 and are then mistaken for new species : and as each 
 river possesses a peculiar variety belonging to it, this, 
 with differences depending upon food and size, will, I 
 think, account for the peculiarities of particular fish, 
 without the necessity of supposing them distinct 
 species. I remember many years ago, the first time I 
 ever fished for salmon in spring in the Tweed, I caught 
 with the fly, one fine morning in March, two fish 
 nearly of the same length : one was a male of the last 
 season, that had lost its milt ; the other a female fresh 
 from the sea. They were so unlike, that they did not 
 appear of the same species : the spent or kipper 
 salmon was long and lean, showing an immense head, 
 spotted all over with black and brown spots, and the 
 belly almost black; the other bright and silvery, 
 without spots, and the head small. Even the pectoral 
 and anal fins had more spines in the newly run fish, 
 some of the smaller ones having been probably rubbed 
 off in spawning by the other. I would not for some 
 time, till assured by an experienced fisherman, beheve. 
 
lU SALMON! A. [foueth day. 
 
 that the spent fish was a sahnon. And when their flesh 
 was compared on the table^ one was white^ flabby, and 
 bad, and without curd; the other of the brightest 
 pink, and full of dense curd. Then, though of the 
 same length, one weighed only 41bs., the other O^lbs. 
 When it is recollected, that different salmon and sea 
 trout spawn at different times in the same river, and 
 that fish of the same year, being born at different 
 seasons, from Christmas to Lady-day, — and having 
 migrated to the sea in spring * — ^run up the rivers of 
 all sizes in summer and autumn — the young salmon 
 from 2 to lOlbs. in weight, the young sea trout from 
 ^ to 3 lbs. in weight — it is not difficult to account for 
 the variety of names given by casual observers to indi- 
 viduals of these two species. But I must not forget 
 my promise of sending a fish to the Highlander, with 
 whose sport we have interfered. There is a good 
 salmon, which shall be taken to him immediately, and 
 for wliich I shall pay the taxman his usual price of 
 hd. per pound. 
 
 * [Relative to the length of time that the young of the salmon 
 remain in fresh water, see additional note at the end of this volume. 
 —J. D.] 
 
Halstadt Lake and Town.— See Page 2o4. 
 
 FIFTH DAY. 
 HALIEUS—P0IETE8—0RNITHER—PHTSICUS. 
 
 Morning. 
 
 HAL — Well, is your tackle all ready? It is a 
 fine fresh and cloudy morning, witli a gentle breeze — 
 a day made for salmon fishing. 
 
 [They proceed to the river. '\ 
 
 HAL. — Now, my friends, I give up the two best 
 pools to you till one o^clock : and I shall amuse 
 
 I 2 
 
116 SALMON! A. [fifth day. 
 
 myself above and below — probably with trout fishing. 
 As there is a promise of a mixed day^ with — what is 
 rare in this country — a good deal of sunsliine^ I will 
 examine your flies a little, and point out those I think 
 likely to be useful; or rather, I will show you my 
 flies, and, as you aR have duplicates of them, you can 
 each select the fly which I point out, and place it in 
 a part of the book where it may easily be found. 
 First : when i\\% cloud is on, I advise the use of one 
 of these tliree golden twisted flies, with silk bodies, 
 orange, red and pale blue, with red, orange, and gray 
 hackle, golden pheasant^s hackle for tail, and king- 
 fisher's blue, and golden pheasant^s brown hackle 
 under the wing ; beginning with the brightest fiy, and 
 changing to the darker one. Should the clouds 
 disappear, and it become bright, change your flies for 
 darker ones, of which I will point out three : — a fly 
 with a brown body and a red cocFs hackle, one with 
 a dun body and black hackle and light wing, and one 
 with a black body, a hackle of the same colour, and a 
 brown mallard^s wing. AR these flies have, you see, 
 sflver twist round their bodies, and aR kingfisher^s 
 feather under the wing, and golden pheasant's feather 
 for the taR. For the size of your flies, I recommend 
 the medium size, as the water is smaR to-day; but 
 trying aR sizes, from the butterfly size of a hook of 
 half an inch in width, to one of a quarter. Now, 
 
FIFTH DAY.] SALMON FISHING. 117 
 
 Physicus, cast your orange fly into that rapid at the 
 top of the pool; I saw a large fish run there this 
 moment. You fish well, were common trout your 
 object ; but_, in salmon fishing, you must alter your 
 manner of moving the fly. It must not float quietly 
 down the water ; you must allow it to sink a little, 
 and then pull it back by a gentle jerk — not raising it 
 out of the water, — and then let it sink again, till it 
 has been shown in motion, a little below the surface, 
 in every part of your cast. That is right, — ^he has 
 risen. 
 
 PHYS.—l hold him. He is a noble fish ! 
 
 HAL. — He is a large grilse, I see by liis play. 
 Hold him tight : he will fight hard. 
 
 PHYs. — There ! he springs out of the water ! 
 Once, twice, thrice, four times ! He is a merry one ! 
 
 HAL. — He runs against the stream, and will soon 
 be tired, — but do not hurry him. Pull hard now, to 
 prevent him from running round that stone. He 
 comes in. I will gaff him for you. I have him ! 
 A goodly fish of this tide. But see, Poietes has a 
 larger fish at the bottom of the great pool, and is 
 carried down by him almost to the sea. 
 
 POIET. — I cannot hold him ! He has run out all 
 my line. 
 
 HAL. — I see him : he is hooked foul, and I fear 
 we shall never recover him, for he is going out to sea. 
 
118 SALMONIA. [FIFTH DAY. 
 
 Give me the rod, — I will try and turn him; and do 
 you run down to the entrance of the pool, and throw 
 stones, to make him, if possible, run back. Ay ! 
 that stone has done good service ; he is now running 
 up into the pool again. Now call the fisherman, and 
 tell him to bring a long pole, to keep him if possible 
 from the sea. You have a good assistant, and I will 
 leave you, for tiring this fish w^ill be at least a work of 
 two hours. He is not much less than 20 lbs. and is 
 hooked under the gills, so that you cannot suffocate 
 him by a straight line. I wish you good fortune ; 
 but should he turn sulky, you must not allow him to 
 rest, but make the fisherman move him with the pole 
 again ; your chance of killing him depends upon liis 
 being kept incessantly in action, so that he may 
 exhaust himself by exercise. I shall go and catch 
 you some river trout for your dinner : — but I am glad 
 to see, before I take my leave of you, that Ornither 
 has likewise hold of fish, — and, from his acti\ity, a 
 lusty sea trout. 
 
 [He goes, and returns in the afternoon.'^ 
 
 HAL. — Well, Poietes, I hope to see your fish of 
 20 lbs. 
 
 POIET. — Alas ! he broke me, — turned sulky, and 
 went to the bottom ; and when he w^as roused again, 
 my line came back without the fly ; so that I conclude 
 
FIFTH DAY.] PRODUCE OF MORNINaS SPORT. 119 
 
 he had cut my links by rubbing them against some 
 sharp stone. But I have caught two grilses and a 
 sea trout since^ and lost two others^ salmons or 
 grilses, that fairly got the hooks out of their mouths. 
 
 HAL. — And, Oriiither, what have you done? 
 Well, 1 see, — a salmon, a grilse, and a sea trout. 
 And Physicus ? 
 
 PHYS. — I have lost three fish; one of which broke 
 me, at the top of the pool, by running amongst the 
 rocks ; and I have only one small sea trout. 
 
 HAL. — Your fortune will come another day. Why, 
 you have not a single crimped fish for dinner, and it 
 is now nearly two o^ clock ; and you have been 
 catching for the picklers, for those fish may all go to 
 the boiling-house. I must again be your purveyor. 
 Can you point out to me any part of this pool where 
 you have not fished ? 
 
 ALL. — No. 
 
 HAL. — Then I have little chance. 
 
 PHYS. — yes ! you have a charm for catching fish. 
 
 HAL. — Let me know what flies you have tried, 
 and I may, perhaps, tell you if I have a chance. 
 With my small bright humming-bird, as you call it 
 I will make an essay. 
 
 POIET. — But this fishery is really very limited: 
 and two pools for four persons a small allowance. 
 
 HAL, — If you could have seen this river twenty 
 
120 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 years ago^ when the cruives were a mile higher ap, 
 then you might have enjoyed fishing. There were 
 eight or ten pools of the finest character possible for 
 anglings where a fisherman of my acquaintance has 
 hooked thirty fish in a morning. The river was then 
 perfect^ and it might easily be brought again into the 
 same state : but even as it is now, with this single 
 good pool and this second tolerable one, I know no 
 place where I could, in the summer months, be so 
 secure of sport as here — certainly no where in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 POIET. — I have often heard the Tay and the Tweed 
 vaunted as salmon rivers. 
 
 HAL. — They were good salmon rivers, and are still 
 very good, as far as the profit of the proprietor is 
 concerned; but, for angling, they are very much 
 deteriorated. The net fishing, which is constantly 
 going on, except on Sundays and in close time, 
 suffers very few fish to escape; and a Sunday's 
 flood offers the sole chance of a good day^s sport, 
 and this only in particular parts of these rivers.* 
 I remember the Tweed and the Tay in a far better 
 state. The Tweed, in the late Lord Somerville''s time, 
 
 * rit is stated by Mr. Young, in his valuable little treatise, 
 " Natural History of the Salmon," that in 1812, when stake nets were 
 in full operation at the mouth of the Tay, the rents of the whole of 
 that river above Newburgh had fallen to the sum of 5,1 OOZ. ; and 
 
FIFTH DAY.] THE TA Y AND TWEED. 121 
 
 always contained taking-fish after every flood in the 
 summer. In the Tay, only ten years ago_, at Micklevre, 
 I was myseK one of two anglers who took eight fine 
 fish, three of them large salmon, in a short morning's 
 fishing ; but now, except in spring fishing, when the 
 fish are little worth taking, there is no certainty of 
 sport in these rivers; and one, two, or tliree fish 
 (which last is of rare occurrence), are all that even an 
 experienced angler can hope to take in a day^s skiKul 
 and constant angling. 
 
 that seven years after, viz., in 1819, they had risen to 14,627?. — the 
 stake nets having heen removed by law as illegal obstructions. 
 
 Considering the great deterioration of the majority of salmon rivers, 
 and the danger there is of their utter ruin if a reform in the manner 
 of fishing them be not effected, surely the subject is deserving of, 
 and urgently requires, the immediate attention of the legislature ; and 
 now that the habits of the salmon, and its peculiarities, are better 
 known, were competent naturalists consulted in preparing a bill, there 
 could hardly be any difficulty in forming an effective one for the 
 regulation of the salmon fisheries. 
 
 A new bill is reported to be in preparation for the Scotch rivers, 
 with this intent, to make the close time earlier, except for rod fishing, 
 and protracting the time of the latter, so as to allow of more fish 
 running up to breed, and promoting the early, the most safe and 
 productive breeding, not endangered by winter floods and ice, and 
 giving the proprietors of the higher streams, and the streams where the 
 fish breed, an interest in preserving them. 
 
 If this bill be approved, and succeed, it is to be hoped that a 
 measure of a similar kind will be adopted for the English rivers ; for 
 many of which it is much more needed than for the Scotch. See 
 additional note at the end of the volume, relative to the facts recently 
 ascertained respecting the salmon. — J. D.J 
 
122 SALMON! A. [fifth day. 
 
 POIET' — You have fished in most of the sahnoii 
 rivers of the north of Europe — give us some idea of 
 the kind of sport they afford. 
 
 HAL. — I have fished in some^ but perhaps not in 
 the best ; for tliis it is necessary to go into barbarous 
 countries — Lapland, or the extreme north of Norway; 
 and I have generally loved too much the comforts of 
 life to make any greater sacrifices than such as are 
 made in our present expedition. I have heard the 
 river at Drontheim boasted of as an excellent salmon 
 river, and I know two worthy anglers wiio have tried 
 it ; but I do not think they took more fish in a day 
 than I have sometimes taken in Scotland and Ireland. 
 All the Norwegian rivers that I tried, and they were 
 in the south of Norway, contained salmon. I fished 
 in the Glommen, one of the largest rivers in Europe ; 
 in the Mandals, wliich appeared to me the best fitted 
 for taking salmon; the Arendal and the Torrisdale. 
 But, though I saw salmon rise in all these rivers, 
 1 never took a fish larger than a sea trout ; of these 
 I always caught many — and even in the fiords, or 
 small inland salt-water bays ; but I think never any 
 one more than a pound in weight. It is true I was 
 in Norway in the beginning of July, in exceedingly 
 bright weather, and when there was no night; for 
 even at twelve o^clock the sky was so bright, that 
 I read the smallest print in the columns of a 
 
FIFTH DAY.J RI VERS OF NOR WA Y S^ SWEDEN, 123 
 
 newspaper. I was in Sweden later^ in August; 
 I j&slied in the magnificent Gotha_, below that grand 
 fall Trolhetta, wliich to see is worth a voyage from 
 England^ but I never raised there any fish w^orth 
 taking ; yet a gentleman from Gothenburg told me 
 he had formerly taken large trout there. I caught, 
 in this noble stream, a little trout about as long as 
 my hand ; and the only fish I got to eat at Trolhetta 
 Avas bream. The Talkenstein, a darker water, very 
 like a second-rate Scotch river — say the Don — 
 abounds in salmon; and there I had a very good 
 day^s fishing. I took six fish, which gave me great 
 sport ; they were grilses, under 61bs. ; but I lost a 
 salmon, which I think was above lOlbs. This river, 
 I conceive, must be generally excellent; it is not 
 covered with saw-mills, like most of the Norwegian 
 rivers ; its colour is good, and it is not so clear as 
 the rivers of the south of Norway. 
 
 PHYS. — Do you think the saw-mills hurt the 
 fishing ? 
 
 HAL. — I do not doubt it. The immense quantity 
 of sawdust which floats in the water, and which forms 
 almost hills along the banks, must be poisonous to 
 the fish, by sometimes choking their gills, and 
 interfering with their respiration. I have never 
 fished for salmon in Germany. The Elbe and the 
 Weser, when I have seen tliem, were too foul for 
 
124 SALMONIA, [twib. dat 
 
 tij-fishing. And in the Eliine, in Switzerland^ and 
 its tributary streams, I have never seen a salmon rise. 
 I once hooked a fish, under the fall at Schaffhausen, 
 which, in my youthful ardour, I thought was a 
 salmon, but it tui-ned out to be an immense chub 
 — a villanous and provoking substitute. Our islands, 
 as far as I know, may claim the superiority over 
 all other lands for this species of amusement. In 
 England it is, however, a little difficult to get a 
 day^s salmon fishing. The best river I know of is 
 the Derwent, that flows from the beautiful lake 
 of Keswick; I caught once, in October, a very 
 large salmon there, and raised another ; but it is only 
 late in the autumn that there is any chance of sport, 
 though I have heard the spring salmon fishing 
 boasted of. At Wliitwell, in the H odder, I have 
 heard of salmon and sea trout being taken — but I 
 have never fished in that river. The late Lord 
 Bolingbroke caught many salmon at Christchurch ; 
 but a fish a week is as much as can be expected 
 in that beautiful, but scantily stocked, river. Small 
 salmon and sea trout, or sewens, as they are called in 
 the country, may be caught after the autumnal floods, 
 I believe, in most of the considerable Welsh, Devon- 
 shire, and Cornish streams; but I have fished in 
 many of them mthout success. The Conway I may 
 except ; this river, in the end of October, will some- 
 
FIFTH DAY.] ENGLISH RIVERS. 125 
 
 times^ after a great llood^ furnisli a good day's sport ; 
 and, if the net fishers could be set aside, several days^ 
 sport. I have knoAvn two salmon, one above 201bs., 
 taken there in a day ; and I have taken myself fine 
 sea trout, or sewens, which, in an autumnal flood in 
 Wales, are found in most of the streams near the sea. 
 
 POIET. — I have heard a Northumberland man 
 boast of the rivers of that county, as affording good 
 salmon fishing. 
 
 HAL. — I have no doubt that salmon are sometimes 
 caught in the Tyne, the Coquet, and the Till ; but, in 
 the present state of these rivers, this is a rare 
 occurrence. I was once, for a week, on a good run 
 of the North Tyne ; I fished sometimes, but I never 
 saw a salmon rise ; and the only place in this river, 
 where, from my own knowledge, I can assert salmon 
 have been caught with the artificial fly, was at 
 Mounsey, very high up the river. There, in 1820, 
 two grilses were caught, in the end of August. I 
 have recorded this as a sort of historical occurrence ; 
 and I dare say most of the counties of England, in 
 wliich there are salmon rivers, would, upon a minute 
 inquiry, furnish such instances, if they contained salmon 
 fishers. Yorkshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, with the 
 sea on both sides, ought to furnish a greater number. 
 
 PHYS. — Give us some little account of the Scotch 
 and Irish rivers. 
 
126 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 HAL. — 1 fear T shall tire you by attempting any 
 details oPx tliis subject^ for they are so many^ that T 
 ought to take a map in my hands ; but I will say a 
 few words on those in which I have had good sport. 
 First, the Tweed : — of tliis, as you will understand 
 from what I mentioned before, I fear I must now say 
 "fait'' Yet still, for spring salmon fishing, it must 
 be a good river. The last great sport I had in that 
 river was in 1817, in the beginning of April. I 
 caught, in two or three hours, at Merton, four or five 
 large salmon, and as many in the evening at Kelso — 
 and* one of them weighed 251bs. But this kind of 
 fishing cannot be compared to the summer fisliing : 
 the fish play with mucli less energy, and in general are 
 in bad season ; and the fly used for fisliing is almost 
 like a bird — four or five times larger than the summer 
 fly, and the coarsest tackle may be employed. I have 
 heard, that Lord Home has sometimes taken thirty 
 fish in a day, in spring fisliing. About, and above 
 Melrose, I have taken, in a morning in July, two or 
 three grilses ; and in September the same number. 
 I have known eighteen taken earlier, by an excellent 
 salmon fisher, at Merton ; and the late Lord 
 Somerville often took six or seven fish in a day^s 
 angling. The same ^^fidt '' I must apply to most of 
 the Scotch rivers. Of the Tay I have already spoken. 
 In the Dee I have never caught salmon, though I 
 
FIFTH DAY.] SCOTCH RIVERS. 127 
 
 have fished in two parts of it^ but it was in bad 
 seasons. In the Don I have seen salmon rise^ and 
 hooked one^ but never killed a fish. In the Spey I 
 enjoyed one of the best day's sport (perhaps the very 
 best) I ever had in my life : it was in the beginning 
 of September^ in close time ; the water was low, and 
 as net fishing had been given over for some days, the 
 lower pools were full of fish. By a privilege, which I 
 owed to the late Duke of Gordon, I fished at this 
 forbidden time, and hooked twelve or thirteen fish in 
 one day. One was above 301bs., but it broke me by 
 the derangement of my reel. I landed seven or eight, 
 — one above 201bs., which gave me great play in the 
 rapids above the bridge. I returned to the same spot 
 in 1813, the year after : the river was in excellent 
 order, and it was the same time of the year, but just 
 after a flood, — I caught nothing ; the fish had all run 
 up the river; the pools, where I had such sport the 
 year before, were empty. I have fished there since, 
 with a like result, — but this w^as before the 12th of 
 August, the close day. In the Sutherland and 
 Caithness rivers, many salmon, I have no doubt, may 
 still be caught. The Brora, Sutherland, in 1813 and 
 1814, was an admirable river: I have often rode 
 from the mansion of the princely and hospitable lord 
 and lady of that county, after breakfast, and returned 
 at two or three o'clock, having taken from three to 
 
128 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 eight salmon — several times eight. , There were five 
 pools below the wears of the Brora, which alwavs 
 contained fish; and at the top of one pool, which 
 from its size was almost inexhaustible, I have taken 
 three or four salmon the same day. Another pool, 
 nearer the sea, was almost equal to it ; and at that 
 time I should have placed the Brora above the Ewe 
 for certainty of sport. When I fished tliere last, in 
 1817, the case was altered, and I caught only tw^o or 
 three fish in the very places where I had six years 
 before been so successful. In the Helmsdale there 
 are some good pools, and I have caught fine fish there 
 when the river has been high. I have fished in the 
 river at Thurso, but without success — it was always 
 foul when I made my attempt. I have heard of a 
 good salmon river in Lord Eeay's country, the 
 Laxford ; its name, of Norwegian origin, would seem 
 to be characteristic."^ Along the coast of Scotland, 
 most of the streams, if taken at the right time, afford 
 sport. In tliis country the Beauly is a good river, 
 and I have caught salmon in that very beautiful spot 
 below the falls of Kilmornack. The Ness, at Inver- 
 ness, and the Awe, and Lochy, I have fished in, but 
 without success. I may say the same of the Ayr, and 
 of the rivers which empty themselves into the Solway 
 Frith. A little preserved stream, at Ardgowan, was 
 
 * Lax is the Teutonic word for salmon. 
 
Fnrra day.] IRISH RIVERS. 129 
 
 formerly excellent, after a flood in September, for sea 
 trout, and later for salmon : I have had good sport 
 there, and some of my friends have had better. 
 
 In Ireland there are some excellent rivers; and, 
 what you will hardly believe possible, comparing the 
 characters of the two nations, some of them are taken 
 better care of than the Scotch rivers ; which arises a 
 good deal from the influence of the Catholic priests, 
 when they are concerned in the interests of the pro- 
 prietors, on the Catholic peasantry. I should place 
 the Erne, at Ballyshannon, as now the first river, for 
 salmon fishing from the banks with a rod, in the 
 British dominions ; and the excellent proprietor of it, 
 Dr. Sheil, is liberal and courteous to all gentlemen 
 fly-fishers. The Moy, at Ballina, is likewise an 
 admirable salmon river; and sport, I believe, may 
 almost always be secured there in every state of the 
 waters ; but the best fishing can only be commanded 
 by the use of a boat. I have taken in the Erne two 
 or three large salmon in the morning ; and in the 
 Moy, three or four griJses, or, as they are called in 
 Ireland, grauls ; and this was in a very bad season for 
 salmon fishing. The Bann, near Coleraine, abounds 
 in salmon : but, in this river, except in close time, 
 when it is unlawful to fish there, there are few good 
 casts. In the Bush, a small river about seven miles 
 to the east of the Bann, there is admirable salmon 
 
130 SALMONIA. rniTH day 
 
 fishing always after great floods, but in fine and dry 
 weather it is of little use to try. I have hooked 
 twenty fish in a day, after the first August floods, in 
 this river; and, should sport fail, the celebrated 
 Giant^s Causeway is within a mile of its mouth, and 
 furnishes to the lovers of natural beauty, or of geo- 
 logical research, almost inexhaustible sources of 
 interest. The Blackwater, at Lismore, is a very good 
 salmon river : and the Shannon, above Limerick and 
 at Castle Connel, whenever the water is tolerably high, 
 offers many good casts to the fly-fisher ; but they can 
 only be commanded by boats. But there is no 
 considerable river along the northern or western coast^ 
 — ^with the exception of the Avoca, which has been 
 spoiled by the copper mines, — that does not afford 
 salmon, and, if taken at the proper time, offer sport to 
 the salmon fisher. — But it is time for us to return 
 to our inn. 
 
 THE INN. 
 
 POIET. — Should it be a fine day to-morrow, I 
 think we shall have good sport; the liigh tide \^i[l 
 bring up fish, and the rain and wind of yesterday 
 \\dll have enlarged the river. 
 
 HAL. — ^To-morrow we must not fish; it is tlie 
 Lord's day, and a day of rest. It ought likewise to 
 
FIFTH DAY.] SABBA TH DA Y. 131 
 
 be a day of worship and thanksgiving to the Great 
 Cause of all the benefits and blessings we enjoy in 
 this life, for which we can never sufficiently express 
 our gratitude. 
 
 POIET. — I cannot see what harm there can be in 
 pursuing an amusement on a Sunday, wliich you 
 yourself have called innocent, and which is apostolic : 
 nor do I know a more appropriate way of returning 
 thanks to the Almighty Cause of all being, than in 
 examining and wondering at his works in that great 
 temple of nature, whose canopy is the sky, and 
 where all the beings and elements around us are as 
 it were proclaiming the power and wisdom of Deity. 
 
 HAL.—y-\ cannot see how the exercise of fishing 
 can add to your devotional feelings; but, indepen- 
 dent of this, you employ a servant to carry your net 
 and gaff, and he, at least, has a right to rest on this 
 one day. But even if you could perfectly satisfy 
 yourself as to the abstracted correctness of the 
 practice, the habits of the country in which we now 
 are, form an insurmountable obstacle to the pursuit 
 of the amusement : by indulging in it, you would 
 excite the indignation of the Highland peasants, and 
 might perhaps expiate the offence by a compulsory 
 ablution in the river. 
 
 POIET, — I give up the point: I make it a rule 
 never to shock the prejudices of any person, even 
 
 k2 
 
132 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 when they appear to me ridiculous ; and I shall still 
 less do so in a case where your authority is against 
 me ; and I have no taste for undergoing persecution, 
 wdien the cause is a better one. I now remember, 
 that 1 have often heard of the extreme severity with 
 which tlie sabbath discipline is kept in Scotland. 
 Can you give us the reason of this ? 
 
 HAL. — I am not sufficiently read in the Church 
 History of Scotland to give the cause historically; 
 but I think it can hardly be doubted^ that it is 
 connected with the intense feelings of the early 
 Covenanters, and their hatred with respect to all the 
 forms and institutes of the Church of Eome, the ritual 
 of which makes the Sunday more a day of innocent 
 recreation than severe discipline. 
 
 PUTS. — Yet tlie disciples of Calvin, at Geneva, 
 who, I suppose, must have hated the pope as much 
 as their brethren of Scotland, do not so rigidly 
 observe the Sunday ; and I remember having been 
 invited by a very religious and respectable Genevese 
 to a shooting party on that day. 
 
 JIAL. — I think climate and the imitative nature of 
 man modify this cause abroad. Geneva is a little 
 state, in a brighter climate than Scotland, almost 
 surrounded by Catholics, and the habits of the 
 Trench and Savoyards must influence the people. 
 The Scotch, with more severity and simplicity of 
 
FIFTH DAY.] SABBA TH DA Y. 133 
 
 manners, have no such examples of bad neighbours, 
 for the people of the north of England keep the 
 Sunday much in the same way. 
 
 POIET. — Nay, Halieus, call them not bad neigh- 
 bours j recollect my creed, and respect at least, what, 
 if error, was the error of the western Christian world 
 for 1000 years. The rigid observance of the seventh 
 day appears to me rather a part of the Mosaic, than 
 of the Christian dispensation. The Protestants of 
 tliis country consider the Catholics bigots, because 
 they enjoin to themselves and perform certain 
 penances for their sins ; and surely the Catholics may 
 see a little still more resembling that spirit, in the 
 interference of the Scotch in innocent amusements, 
 on a day celebrated as a festive day, that on which 
 our Saviour rose to immortal life, and secured the 
 everlasting hopes of the Christian. I see no reason 
 why this day should not be celebrated with singing, 
 dancing, and triumphal processions, and all innocent 
 signs of gladness and joy. I see no reason why it 
 should be given up to severe and solitary prayers, or 
 to solemn and dull walks ; or why, as in Scotland, 
 whistling even should be considered as a crime on 
 Sunday, and humming a tune, however sacred, out of 
 doors, as a reason for violent anger and persecution. 
 
 ORN. — I agree with Poietes, in his views of the 
 subject. I have suffered from the peculiar habits of 
 
134 SALMONIA. [fifth dat 
 
 the Scotch Church, and therefore may complain. 
 Once in the north of Ireland, when a very young 
 man, I ventured after the time of divine service to 
 put together my rod, as I had been used to do in 
 the Cathohc districts of Ireland, and fish for sea trout 
 in the river at Eatlimelton, in pure innocence of heart, 
 unconscious of wrong; when I found a crowd collect 
 round me — at first I thought from mere curiosity, 
 but I soon discovered I was mistaken; anger was 
 their motive, and vengeance their object. A man 
 soon came up, exceedingly drunk, and began to 
 abuse me by various indecent terms, — such as a 
 Sabbath breaking papist, &c. It was in vain I 
 assured him I was no papist, and no intentional 
 Sabbath breaker ; he seized my rod and carried it off 
 with imprecations; and it was only with great 
 difficulty, that I recovered my property. Another 
 time I was walking on Arthur^s Seat, with some of the 
 most distinguished professors of Edinburgh attached 
 to the geological opinions of the late Dr. Hutton; a 
 discussion took place upon the phenomena presented 
 by the rocks under our feet, and, to exemplify a 
 principle. Professor Playfair broke some stones, in 
 which I assisted the venerable and amiable philoso- 
 pher. We had hardly examined the fragments, when 
 a man from a crowd, who had been assisting at a 
 field preaching, came up to us and warned us off, 
 
FIFTH DAY.] INSTINCTS. 136 
 
 saying, " Ye think ye are only stane breakers, but I 
 ken ye are Sabbath breakers, and ye deserve to be 
 staned with the stanes ye are breaking ! '' 
 
 JZiZ.— Zeal of every kind is sometimes troublesome, 
 yet I generally suspect the persons, who are veri/ 
 tolerant, of scepticism. Those who firmly believe, 
 that a particular plan of conduct is essential to the 
 eternal welfare of man, may be pardoned if they show 
 even an(/er, when this conduct is not pursued. The 
 severe observance of the Sabbath is connected with 
 the vital creed of these rigid presbyterians ; it is not 
 therefore extraordinary, that they should enforce it 
 even with a perseverance that goes beyond the bounds 
 of good manners and courtesy. They may quote the 
 example of our Saviour, who expelled the traders from 
 the Temple even by violence. 
 
 PHYS.—l envy no quality of the mind or intellect 
 in others, be it genius, power, wit, or fancy : but if 
 I could choose what would be most delightful, and I 
 believe most useful to me, I should prefer a firm 
 religious behef to every other blessing : for it makes 
 life a discipline of goodness ; creates new hopes, 
 when all earthly hopes vanish ; and throws over the 
 decay, the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous 
 of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and from 
 corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity ; 
 makes an instrument of torture and of shame the 
 
136 SALMONIA . [fifth day 
 
 ladder of ascent to paradise ; and, far above all com- 
 binations of earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful 
 visions of palms and amaranths, the gardens of the 
 blest, the security of everlasting joys, where the 
 sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay, 
 annihilation, and despair ! 
 
 POIET.—Yovi transiently referred, Halieus, yester- 
 day, to that instinct of salmons which induces them 
 to run up rivers from the sea on the approach of rain. 
 You have had so many opportunities of attending to 
 the instincts of the inferior animals, that I should be 
 very glad to hear your opinion on that very curious 
 subject — the nature and development of instincts in 
 general. 
 
 HAL.— Yovi must remember, that, in the conversa- 
 tion to which you allude, I avoided even to pretend 
 to define the nature of instinct ; but I shall willingly 
 discuss the subject ; and I expect from yourself, 
 Ornither, and Physicus, more light thrown upon it 
 than I can hope to bestow. 
 
 ORN.—l believe we have each a peculiar view on 
 this matter. In discussion we may enlighten and 
 correct each other. Por myself, I consider instincts 
 merely as results of organisation, a part of the 
 machinery of organised forms. Man is so constituted, 
 that his muscles acquire their power by habit ; their 
 motions are at first automatic, and become voluntary 
 
FIFTH DAY. I INSTINCTS. 137 
 
 by associations^ so that a child must learn to walk as 
 he learns to swim or write ; * but in the colt or chicken, 
 the limbs are formed with the powers of motion; 
 and these animals walk as soon as they have quitted 
 the womb or the ^gg. 
 
 PETS. — I believe it possible that they may have 
 acquired these powers of motion in the embryo state ; 
 and I think I have observed, that birds learn to fly, 
 and acquire the use of their wings, by continued 
 efforts, in the same manner as a child does that of 
 his limbs. 
 
 ORN, — I cannot agree with you; the legs of the 
 foetus- are folded up in the womb of the mare ; and 
 neither the colt nor the chicken can ever have per- 
 formed, in the embryo state, any motions of their legs 
 similar to those which they have perfectly at their 
 command when born. Young birds cannot fly as 
 soon as they are hatched, because they have no wing 
 feathers ; but as soon as these are developed, and 
 even before they are perfectly strong, they use their 
 wings, fly, and quit their nests without any education 
 from their parents. Compare a young quail, when a 
 
 * [But it cries and sucks, and each with as perfect effect, at the 
 instant of birth, as days or weeks after, — its organs at the time of 
 birth, being sufficiently developed for these its needs, — one to excite 
 the mother's regards, the other to support life. — Both acts may perhaps 
 be considered instinctive, being complete without teaching or thought ; 
 and so in accordance with the reasoning in the text. — J.D.] 
 
138 SAL MOyiA . [fifth day. 
 
 few days old, with a child of as many months : he 
 flies, runs, seeks his food, avoids danger, and obeys 
 the call of his mother; whilst a child is perfectly 
 helpless, and can perform few voluntary motions; 
 has barely learnt to grasp, and can neither stand nor 
 walk. But to see the most perfect instance of instinct, 
 as contrasted with acquired knowledge, look at 
 common domestic poultry: as soon as they are 
 excluded from the ^^g, they run round their mother, 
 nestle in her feathers, and obey her call, without educa- 
 tion : she leads them to some spot where there is soft 
 earth or dung, and instantly begins scratching with 
 her feet ; the chickens watch her motions with the 
 utmost attention ; if an earth-worm or larva is turned 
 up, they instantly seize and devour it, but they avoid 
 eating sticks, grass, or straws : and though the hen 
 shows them the example of picking up grain, they do 
 not imitate her in tliis respect, but for some days 
 prefer ants, or the larvae of ants, to a barley-corn. 
 They may have heard the cluck of their mother in the 
 egg, and having felt the warmth of her feathers agree- 
 able, so you may consider, Physicus, their collecting 
 under her wings, and obeying her call, as an acquired 
 habit. But I will mention another circumstance, 
 where habit or education is entirely out of the 
 question. Does the mother see the shadow of a kite 
 on the ground, or hear his scream in the air, she 
 
FIFTH DAY.] INSTINCTS. 139 
 
 instantly utters a shrill suppressed cry ; the cliickens, 
 though born that day, and searching round her with 
 glee and animation for the food which her feet were 
 providing for them, instantly appear as if thunder- 
 struck; those close to her crouch down and hide 
 themselves in the straw; those further off, without 
 moving from the place, remain prostrate; the hen 
 looks upward with a watchful eye; nor do they 
 resume their feeding till they have been called again 
 by the cluck of their mother, and warned that the 
 danger is over. 
 
 PHYS. — I certainly cannot explain the acquaintance 
 of the little animals with the note of alarm of the 
 mother, except upon the principle you have adopted ; 
 and I fairly own, that their selection of animal food 
 appears likewise instinctive ; yet it is possible, that 
 this selection may depend upon some analogy between 
 the smell of these animal matters and the yolk, wliich 
 was for a long time their food in the tgg, 
 
 ORN. — I find I must multiply examples. Examine 
 young ducks which have been hatched under a hen : 
 they no sooner quit the shell, than they fly to their 
 natural element, the water, in spite of the great 
 anxiety and terror of their foster-parent, who in vain 
 repeats that sound to which her natural children are 
 so obedient. Being in the water, they seize insects of 
 every kind, which they can only know from their 
 
140 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 instincts to be good for food; and when tliej are 
 hatched in the May-fly season, they pursue these 
 large ephemerae with the greatest avidity, and make 
 them their favourite food. It is impossible, I think, 
 to explain these facts, except by supposing, that they 
 depend upon feelings or desires in the animals 
 developed with their organs, which are not acquired, 
 and wliich are absolutely instinctive. I will mention 
 another instance. A friend of mine was travelling in 
 the interior of Ceylon ; on the shore of a lake he saw 
 some fragments of shells of the eggs of the alb'gator, 
 and heard a subterraneous sound : his curiosity was 
 excited, and he was induced to search beneath the 
 surface of the sand: besides two or tliree young 
 animals lately come from the shell, he found several 
 eggs which were still entire : he broke the shell of one 
 of them, when a young alligator came forth, apparently 
 perfect in all its functions and motions ; and when my 
 friend touched it with a stick, it assumed a threatening 
 aspect, and bit the stick with violence; and it 
 made towards the water, wliich, — ^though born by the 
 influence of the sunbeams on the burning sand, — 
 it seemed to know was its natural and hereditary 
 domain. Here is an animal which, deserted by its 
 parents, and entirely submitted to the mercy of nature 
 and the elements, must die if it had to acquire its 
 knowledge ; but all its powers are given, all its wants 
 
FIFTH DAY.] [NSTINCTS. 141 
 
 supplied ; and even its means of offence and defence 
 implanted by strong and perfect instincts. I will 
 mention one fact more. Swallows, quails, and many 
 other birds migrate in large flocks when their usual 
 food becomes scarce ; and in these cases it may be 
 said, — I anticipate a remark of Physicus, — that the 
 phenomenon depends upon imitation, and that the 
 young birds follow the old ones, who have before 
 made the same flight. But I will select the young 
 cuckoo for an unexceptionable example of the 
 instinctive nature of this quality. He is produced 
 from an ^g^ deposited by his mother in the nest of 
 another bird, generally the hedge-sparrow. He 
 destroys all the other young ones hatched in the same 
 nest, and is supplied with food by his foster-parent, 
 after he has deprived her of all her natural offspring. 
 Quite solitary, he is no sooner able to fly than he 
 quits the country of his birth, and finds his way, with 
 no other guide than his instinct, to a land where his 
 parents had gone many weeks before him ; and he is 
 not pressed to make this migration by want of food, 
 for the insects and grains on which he feeds are still 
 abundant. The whole history of the origin, education, 
 and migration of this singular animal, is a history of 
 a succession of instincts, the more remarkable, 
 because in many respects contrary to the usual order 
 of nature. 
 
142 SA LMONIA . [fifth day. 
 
 PHYS, — I have been accustomed to refer many of 
 the supposed instincts of animals, such as migrations, 
 building nests^ and selection of food, to imitation; 
 but, I confess, 1 cannot explain the last fact you have 
 brought forward on this principle. Pray, Ornither, 
 let me state your view, as I understand it, that Ave 
 may not differ as to the meaning of language. I 
 conclude you adopt Hartley's view of association, that 
 the motions of the muscles in man are first automatic, 
 and become voluntary by association , and that reason 
 is the application of voluntary motions for a particular 
 end. For instance : a child is not afraid of fire, but, 
 bringing its hand near the fire, it is burnt, and the 
 convulsions of the muscles produced by the pain end 
 in removing the hand from the source of pain. These 
 motions by association are made voluntary ; and after 
 this experiment he avoids the fire by reason^ and takes 
 care always to perform those motions which remove 
 his Kmbs from this destructive agent. But in 
 contrasting instinct with this slow process, you would 
 say, most animals, without having felt the effects of 
 fire, have an innate dread of it ; and in the same way, 
 without having been taught, or experienced pleasure 
 or pain from the object, young ducks seek the water, 
 young chickens avoid it : their organs have a fitness 
 or unfitness for certain functions, and they use them 
 for these functions without education. In short, the 
 
FIFTH DAY.] IJSTSTINCTS. 143 
 
 instinctive application of the organ is independent of 
 experience, and forms part of a train of pure sensations. 
 
 ORN. — I have no objection to the statement you 
 make of my view of the subject; but I certainly 
 should give to it a little more refinement and gene- 
 rality. In all the results of reason, ideas are con- 
 cerned, but never in those of instinct. Without 
 memory there can be no reason; but in instinct 
 nothing can be traced but pure sensation. 
 
 POIET. — Though in the animal world no ideas 
 seem connected with instincts, yet they are all 
 intended for specific and inteUigent ends. Thus the 
 swallow travels to a country where flies are found ; the 
 salmon migrates from the sea to the sources of fresh 
 rivers, where its eggs may receive a supply of aerated 
 water, and without this migration the race would be 
 extinct : and in this way all the instincts of animals 
 may be referred to intelligence, which, though not 
 belonging to the animal, must be attributed to the 
 Divine Mind. Is it not then reasonable to refer 
 instinct to the immediate impulse of the Author of 
 Nature upon his creatures ? His omnipresence and 
 omnipotence cannot be doubted, and to the Infinite 
 Mind the past, the present, and the future are alike; 
 and creative and conservative power must equally 
 belong to it. 
 
 HAL, — That instincts depend upon impulses imme- 
 
T44 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 cliatelj derived from the Deity is an . opinion wliich, 
 though it perhaps cannot be confuted, yet does not 
 please me so much as to believe them dependent upon 
 the formation of organs, and the result of the general 
 laws which govern the system of the universe; and 
 it is in favour of this opinion that they are susceptible 
 of modifications. Thus, in domesticated animals 
 they are always changed ; the turkey and the duck 
 lose their habits of constructing nests, and the goose 
 does not migrate. In supposing them the result 
 of organisation and hereditary, they might be 
 expected to be changed by circumstances, as 
 they are actually found to be. Without referring 
 the instincts of animals to the immediate impulse of 
 the Deity, they appear to me to offer the most 
 irresistible and convincing argument that can be 
 brought forward against atheism. They demonstrate 
 combinations, the result of the most refined intel- 
 ligence, which can only be considered as infinite. 
 Take any one of the lowest class of animals, insects for 
 instance, not oidy is their organisation fitted to aU 
 their wants, but their association in society is provided 
 for, and the laws of a perfect social community, as it 
 were, are adopted by beings that we are sure cannot 
 reason. In the hive bee, for instance, the instinct of 
 tlie workers leads them to adopt and obey a queen ; 
 and if she is taken away from them, or dies, they have 
 
FIKTII DAY.] IJ^STINGTS. 145 
 
 the power of raising another from offspring in the cells 
 by an almost miraculous process : they work under 
 her government for a common object, allow males 
 only to exist for a specific purpose and limited time ; 
 and, under the government of females who preserve 
 the society, they send forth swarms, which readily 
 place themselves under the protection of man. In 
 the geometrical construction of their cells, the secretion 
 of wax from their bodies, the collecting their food, and 
 the care of the brood, there is a series of results which 
 it requires a strong reason to follow, and which are 
 the consequences of invariable instincts. Bees, since 
 they have been noticed by naturalists, have the same 
 habits, and as it is probable that there have been 
 many thousand of generations since the creation, it is 
 evident that the instincts of the first bees have been 
 hereditary and invariable in their offspring ; and it 
 cannot be doubted, that they do now, as they did four 
 thousand years ago, make some cells in combs larger 
 than others for the purpose of containing the eggs 
 and future grubs of drones, that are to be produced by 
 a grub, which they are educating for a queen bee ; 
 and that these cells are connected with the common 
 cells by a series, in which the most exact geometrical 
 laws of transition are observed. An eminent 
 philosopher has deduced an argument in favour of 
 the existence of Deity from the analogy of the universe 
 
U6 SALMONIA. 
 
 I FIFTH DAT- 
 
 to a piece of mecliamsm, which could only be the work 
 of an intelligent mind ; bnt there is this difference : 
 in all the productions of nature, the principle, not only 
 of perfection, but likewdse of conservation, is found, 
 marking a species of intelligence and power which can 
 be compared to nothing human. The first created 
 pwarm of bees contained beings provided with all the 
 instincts necessary for the perpetual continuance of 
 the species ; and some of these instincts can scarcely 
 be understood by man, requiring the most profound 
 geometrical knowledge, even to calculate their results ; 
 and otJier instincts involve what in human societv 
 would be the most singular state of policy, combining 
 contrasted moral causes and contradictory interests. 
 It is impossible not to be lost in awe at the contempla- 
 tion of this chain of facts ; the human mind cannot 
 fail to acknowledge in them the strongest proofs of 
 their being produced by infinite wisdom and unbounded 
 power ; and the devout philosopher can scarcely avoid 
 considering with respect a little insect, endowed with 
 faculties producing combinations, which human reason 
 vainly attempts to imitate, and can scarcely understand. 
 PHYS. — I agree withyou, that if instinct be supposed 
 the result of organisation, and that the first animal 
 types were so created as to transmit their instincts 
 invariably generation after generation, it does offer a 
 most triumphant and incontrovertible argument for 
 
FIFTH DAY.] ' IJ^STIJ^OTS. 147 
 
 the existence of an all-powerful intelligent Cause. 
 Even in the instance which led to this conversation, — 
 the instinct which carries salmon from the sea to the 
 sources of rivers, — it is only lately philosophers have 
 discovered, that the impregnated eggs cannot produce 
 young fishes independent of the influence of air ; and 
 thus an animal goes many hundred miles under the 
 direction of an instinct, the use of which human reason 
 has at length developed, and man is supplied with an 
 abundant food by the result of a combination, in 
 consequence of which a species is preserved. 
 
 POIET. — I do not understand, Halieus, your 
 objections to the view I have adopted, which is 
 sanctioned by the authority of a good ethic philosopher, 
 Addison. Allowing the omnipresence and constant 
 power of Deity, I do not see how you can avoid 
 admitting his actual interference in all the phenomena 
 of living nature. 
 
 HAL. — As I said before, I cannot confute your view ; 
 but, upon this principle, gravitation and the motion of 
 the planets round the sun, and all the other physical 
 phenomena of the universe, would be owing to the 
 immediate action of the Divinity. I prefer the view, 
 which refers them to motion and properties, the results 
 of general laws impressed on matter by Omnipotence. 
 Tliis view is, I think, simpler ; but it is difficult to 
 form any distinct opinion on so high and incomprehen- 
 
 L 2 
 
148 SALMONIA. [fifth day. 
 
 sible a subject ; on whicli^ perhaps, after all, it is wiser 
 to confess our entire ignorance, and to bow down in 
 humble adoration to the one incomprehensible Cause 
 of all being. 
 
 POIET. — I agree with you in your last sentence ; but 
 I still adhere to my own view ; and I hope you will not 
 object to a favourite opinion of mine, that instincts 
 are to animals what revelation is to man, intended to 
 supply wants in their physical constitution, which in 
 man are provided for by reason ; and that revelation 
 is to him as an instinct, teaching him what reason 
 cannot — his religious duties, the undying nature of 
 his intellectual part, and the relations of his conduct 
 to eternal happiness and misery. 
 
 HAL, — '^Davus sum, non (Edipus/^ I will not 
 attempt to discuss this view of yours, Poietes : but I 
 think I may say, that all the instincts of animals seem 
 to be connected with pleasure or utiKty ; and in man 
 the feeling of love and the gratifying the appetites 
 which approach nearest to instincts, are likewise highly 
 delightful; and perhaps there is no more pleasurable 
 state of the human mind than when, with intense 
 belief, it looks forward to another world and to a 
 better state of existence, or is absorbed in the 
 adoration of the supreme and eternal Intelligence. 
 
The Teme. Grounds of Downton, from a sketch by Mrs. Stackhouse Acton.— See Page 17a. 
 
 SIXTH DAY. 
 HALIEUS—POIETES—ORNITHER—PHYSICUS. 
 
 Morning. 
 HAL. — Well met, my friends ; it is a fine warm 
 morning, there is a fresh breeze, the river is in 
 excellent order for fishing; and I trust our good 
 behaviour yesterday will ensure us sport to-day. 
 There must be a great many fresh run fish in the 
 pool ; and after twenty-four hours' rest, some of those 
 that were indisposed to take on Saturday evening, 
 may have acquired appetite. Prepare your tackle. 
 
150 SALMONIA. [sixth day. 
 
 and begin; but wliilst you are preparing^ I will 
 mention a circumstance wliich every accomplished 
 fly-fisber ought to know. You changed your flies on 
 Saturday with the change of weather, putting the 
 dark flies on for the bright gleams of the sun, and 
 the gaudy flies when the dark clouds appeared. 
 Now, I will tell you of another principle, wliich it is 
 as necessary to know as the change of flies for change 
 of weather — I allude to the different kinds of fly to 
 be used in particular pools, and even for particular 
 parts of pools. You have fished in this deep pool ; 
 and if you were to change it for a shallower one, such 
 as that above, it would be proper to use smaller flies 
 of the same colour; and in a pool stiR deeper, 
 larger flies : likewise in the rough rapid at the top, a 
 larger fly may be used than below at the tail of the 
 water : and in the Tweed or Tay, I have often changed 
 my fly thrice in the same pool, and sometimes with 
 success — using three different flies for the top, middle, 
 and bottom. I remember that when I first saw 
 Lord Somerville adopt tliis fashion, I thought there 
 was fancy in it ; but experience soon proved to me 
 how accomplished a salmon fisher was my excellent 
 and lamented friend; and I adopted the lesson he 
 taught me, and with good results, in all bright 
 waters. 
 
 POIET. — I will try the correctness of your principle. 
 
SIXTH DAY.] FLIES. 161 
 
 Look at the fly now on my line ; where would you 
 reconunend me to cast it ? 
 
 HAL. — It is a large gaudy fly^ and is fit for no part 
 of this pool, except the extremely rough head of the 
 torrent ; there, I dare say, it will take in this state of 
 the waters. 
 
 POIET. — Good, I hooked a large fish, but alas ! he 
 is off; yet I thought he was fairly caught. 
 
 HAL, — ^rhe hook, I think, turned round at the 
 moment you struck, and carried off some scales from 
 the outside of his mouth. 
 
 POIET, — You are right ; see, the scales are on the 
 hook. I cannot raise another fish; I have tried 
 almost all over the pool. I thought I saw a fish rise 
 at the tail of the rapid. 
 
 HAL. — You did; he refused the fiy. Now put on 
 a fly one third of the size and of the same colour, and 
 I think you will hook that fish. 
 
 POIET. — I have done so ; and he is fast — and a 
 fine fish ; I think a salmon. 
 
 HAL. — It is a salmon; and one above 10 lbs. 
 Play him with care, and do not let him run into the 
 rough part of the stream, where the large stones 
 are. 
 
 POIET — It 'is, I think, the most active fish I have 
 yet played with. See how high he leaps ! He is 
 making for the sea. 
 
152 SALMONIA, [sixth day. 
 
 HAL. — Hold him tight, or you will lose him. 
 
 P0IET,—Y^2iY me not. I trust, in spite of his 
 strength, I shall turn him. You see, I show him the 
 but of the rod, and his force is counterpoised by a 
 very long lever. 
 
 HAL. — You do well. But he has made a violent 
 spring, and, I fear, is off. 
 
 POIET. — He is ; but not, I think, by any fault of 
 mine. He has carried off something. 
 
 HAL. — You played that fish so well, that I am 
 angry at his loss. Either the hook, link, or line, 
 failed you. 
 
 POIET. — It is the hook, which you see is broken, 
 and not merely at the barb, but likewise in the shank. 
 What a fool I was ever to use one of these London or 
 Birmingham -made hooks. 
 
 HAL. — The thing has happened to me often. I 
 now never use any hooks for salmon fishing, except 
 those which 1 am sure have been made by O^Shaugh- 
 nessy, of Limerick ; for even those made in Dublin, 
 though they seldom break, yet they now and then 
 bend : and the English hooks, made of cast steel in 
 imitation of Irish ones, are the worst of all. There 
 is a fly nearly of the same colour as that which is 
 destroyed ; and I can teU you, that I saw it made at 
 Limerick by O'Shaughnessy himself, and tied on one 
 of liis o^Ti hooks. Should you catch with it a fish 
 
SIXTH DAT.] HOOKS. 15d 
 
 even of 30 lbs. I will answer for its strength and 
 temper — it will neither break nor bend. 
 
 POIET. — ^Whilst I am attaching your present, so 
 kindly m-ade, to my line, pray tell me how these 
 hooks are made, for I know you interested yourseK 
 in this subject when at Limerick. 
 
 HAL. — Most willingly. I have even made a hook 
 which, though a little inferior in form, in other 
 respects, I think, I could boast of as equal to the 
 Limerick ones. The first requisite in hook-making is 
 to find good malleable iron of the softest and purest 
 kind — such as is procured from the nails of old 
 horse-shoes. This must be converted by cementation 
 with charcoal into good soft steel, and that into bars"^ 
 or wires of different thickness for diiferent sized 
 hooks, and then annealed. Por the larger hooks, 
 the bars must be made in such a form as to admit of 
 cutting the barbs ; and each piece, which serves for 
 two hooks, is larger at the ends, so that the bar 
 appears in the form of a double pointed spear, three, 
 four, or five inches long : the bars for the finer hooks 
 are somewhat flattened. The artist works with two 
 files, one finer than the other for giving the point 
 and polishing the hook; and he begins by making 
 the barb, taking care not to cut too deep and filing 
 on a piece of hard wood, such as box wood, with a 
 dent to receive the bar, made by the edge of the file. 
 
154 SALMONIA, [sixth day. 
 
 The barb being made, the shank is thinned and 
 flattened, and the polishing file applied to it ; and by 
 a turn of the wrist round a circular pincers, the 
 necessary degree of curvature is given to it. The 
 hook is then cut from the bar, heated red hot by 
 being kept for a moment in a charcoal fire; then 
 plunged, while hot, into cold water ; then tempered, 
 by being put on iron, that has been heated in the 
 same fire till it becomes a bright blue, and, whilst 
 still hot, it is immersed in candle-grease, where it 
 gains a black colour ; it is then finished. 
 
 PHYS. — ^Nothing seems simpler than this process. 
 Surely London might furnish manufacturers for so 
 easy a manipulation ; and I should think one of our 
 friends, who is so admirable a cutler, might even 
 improve upon the Irish process; at least the tem- 
 pering might be more scientifically arranged; for 
 instance, by the thermometer and a bath of fusible 
 metal, the temperature at which steel becomes blue 
 being 580° Fah., might be constantly preserved. 
 
 HAL. — Habit teaches our Irish artists this point 
 with suflicient precision. We should have such 
 hooks in England, but the object of the fishing 
 tackle makers is to obtain them cheap, and most of 
 their hooks are made to sell, and good hooks cannot 
 be sold but at a good price. 
 ^ POIET, — I have heard formerly a good angler 
 
RTXTH DAT.l HOOKS. 155 
 
 complain, that the Limerick liooks were too heavy 
 and clumsy. He preferred hooks made at Kendal in 
 Westmoreland. 
 
 EAL. — I saw, twenty years ago, hooks far too 
 heavy made at Limerick ; but this O^Shaughnessy is, 
 I think, a better maker than his father was, and the 
 curve and the general form of the hook is improved. 
 It has now, I think, nearly the best form of a curve 
 for catching and holding, — the point protruding a 
 little. The Kendal hook holds well, but is not so 
 readily fixed by the pull in the mouth of the fish. 
 The early Tellows of the Eoyal Society, who attended 
 to all the useful and common arts, even improved 
 fish hooks ; and Prince Eupert, an active member of 
 that illustrious body, taught the art of tempering 
 hooks to a person of the name of Kirby ; under 
 whose name, for more than a century, very good 
 hooks were sold. I shall take a walk towards the 
 lake to enjoy a view of its cloud-capped mountains, 
 and I hope to find, on my return, that you have all 
 had your satisfaction in a good day^s salmon fishing. 
 
 PHYS. — We shall crimp and cool a salmon if we 
 catch a good one, for our dinner. 
 
 ^^Z.— Do so. 
 
 ORN. — But before you leave us, I wish you would 
 be good enough to inform us why the salmon here 
 are so different from those I have seen elsewhere : 
 
156 8ALM0mA. [sixth day. 
 
 for instance^ some caught in the Ahiess, in Eosshire, 
 which we saw in passing round the south coast of 
 Eoss. These appear to me thicker and brighter fish, 
 and one that I measured was 30 inches long, and 17 
 in circumference. 
 
 HAL. — I think I have seen broader fish than even 
 those of this river ; but the salmon which you happen 
 to remember for comparison, belonged to a small 
 stream, which, I think, in general are thinner and 
 longer than those in great rivers ; and what 1 
 mentioned on a former occasion with respect to trout 
 holds good likewise with regard to salmon ; each 
 river has a distinct kind. It is scarcely possible to 
 doubt,' that the varieties of the salmon, which haunt 
 the sea, come to the same rivers to breed in which 
 they were born, or where they have spawned before.* 
 
 [ ♦ This is also the conviction of Mr. Young, the most 
 experienced of the experienced in matters relating to the salmon. 
 In his " Natural Histoiy of the Salmon," he gives a remarkahle 
 instance in proof. " We know (he says) of five rivers which run into 
 the same estuary, and all and each of these rivers have their own 
 particular salmon, and the fish differ so much the one from the other, 
 that they are quite easily distinguished. The first river which falls 
 into the estuary of which we speak, has a race of well-shaped salmon, 
 whose average weight is about ten pounds ; the second river has a 
 strong, coarse scaled, rather long, but very hardy salmon, whose 
 average weight is about seventeen pounds; the third river has a 
 middling shaped salmon, whose average weight is about nine pounds ; 
 the fourth river has long, ill-shaped salmon, averaging about eight 
 pounds ; and the fifth river has a very well-shaped salmon, whose 
 
SIXTH DAY.] SBJSrSES OF FISH. 157 
 
 And tliis could hardly happen unless they confined 
 their migrations to a certain space in the sea^ the 
 boundaries of which may be regarded as the shore 
 and the deep water, which may be considered as 
 effectual a limit almost as land; for fish do not 
 wilhngly haunt veri/ deep water, that being even in 
 summer of low temperature, approaching to 40°, 
 and containing little or no vegetable food or insects, 
 which the smaller fishes search for, and the larger 
 fishes follow the smaller. It is however possible, that 
 in winter, all fish fond of heat will seek water rather 
 deeper than in summer ; and cliarr and umbla in lakes 
 are usually found in the deepest parts, being fond of 
 cool water, and they come to spawn whenever the 
 shallow water of the lakes becomes cool, in October 
 or November. We cannot judge of the senses of 
 animals that breathe water, — that separate air from 
 water by their gills ; but it seems probable, that, as 
 the quality of the water is connected with their life 
 and health, they must be exquisitely sensible to 
 changes in water, and must have similar relations to 
 it that an animal with the most delicate nasal 
 organs has to air. A vulture or a dog scents not 
 
 average weight is fully fourteen pounds." He adds, that it is rare 
 indeed for a fish returning through the common estuary, to miss its 
 ■way to its own river, even when first returning as a grilse, — a fact in 
 favour of the explanation given by the author of the occurrence. — J.D.] 
 
158 SALMONIA. [sixth day. 
 
 only particular food and particular game at great 
 distances^ but even makes of the smell a kiud of 
 language; and I doubt not, tliat when dogs, that 
 have been blindfolded and carried away from their 
 home, return to it, it is by the sense of smelling, — to 
 them each town, lane, or field, must have a particular 
 scent. A case has been related to me of a dog carried 
 in a covered basket from Badula to Kandy, a 
 distance of 45 miles, over a road he had never 
 travelled before, and who returned to the spot from 
 which he was taken in 24 hours, through the wildest 
 parts of the mountainous district of Ceylon. And I 
 have seen even a blind horse, an animal in which the 
 sense of smelling is less acute, evidently find his way 
 by it to his master^s house and stable, wliich was, 
 indeed, near a tan-yard. The state of parts of water, 
 in the sea or great lakes, produced by the impregna- 
 tions carried down by particular streams, is much 
 more permanent than a like state in air; so that 
 though the knowledge given by the nasal organs may 
 be more easily communicated at a distance by winds, 
 yet that produced by streams on the branchiae of 
 fishes is more invariable, and a migratory fish is less 
 likely to be deceived. Yet in great floods, often 
 connected with storms, or violent motion in the 
 waters near the shore, salmon sometimes mistake 
 their river. I remember in this way, owing to a 
 
SIXTH DAY.] STRAY SALMON, 159 
 
 tremendous flood, catching with the flj a large 
 sahnon, that had mistaken his river, having come 
 into the Bush, near the Giant^s Causeway, instead of 
 the Bann. No fish can be more distinct in the same 
 species than the fish of these two rivers, their length 
 to their girth being nearly in a ratio of 20 : 9 and 
 20: 13.^ — I am going; good sport to you. 
 
 EVENING. 
 
 HAL. — I am sure I may congratulate you on your 
 sport, for I see on the bank a fine salmon, tlnree 
 grauls or grilses, and three large sea trout. 
 
 ORN. — You have not seen all, for we have crimped 
 two fish — one a large salmon, and the other a trout 
 almost a yard long, and both in excellent season. 
 We have had great sport, and sport even of a kind 
 
 [ * A striking example of a migratory fish losing its way, came to my 
 knowledge in Malta. I was assured there by a gentleman, who had 
 made Icthyology a special study, that he once saw a salmon, brought 
 for sale into the market of Valetta, which had been caught in the sea 
 washing that island. Now, as there are no rivers flowing into the 
 Mediterranean resorted to by this fish for breeding in, it may be 
 inferred, that the fish in question was a stray one that had lost its way 
 in the Atlantic, and had entered the Mediterranean by mistake in the 
 current from the ocean flowing through the Gut of Gibraltar. By 
 similar accidents it is easy to comprehend how all rivers communicating 
 with the ocean, fit by the qualities of their waters, may become the 
 habitual resort and breeding streams of migratory fish. — J.D.] 
 
160 SALMONIA. [sixth day. 
 
 which you will not guess at ; for, when the tide was 
 falling, the fish ceased to rise at the flj, and I thought 
 of trying them with a bait ; so we sent for our swivel 
 taclde, and put parr or samlet on our hooks, as we 
 bait for pike — cutting off one ventral fin on one side, 
 and one pectoral fin on the other; and making the 
 parr spin in the most rapid streams, we had several 
 runs from fish, and it was in this way that Poietes 
 caught this large sea trout, which gave excellent sport. 
 
 HAL. — ^This kind of fishing is not uncommon. I 
 have often caught salmon in the Tay, fishing with 
 parrs ; but though the fish ran at the bait, when they 
 would not rise at the fly while the tide was ebbing, 
 they would have taken the parr better still while it was 
 flowing. 
 
 PHYS. — From my experience to-day, I conclude the 
 salmon has habits different from the trout; for I 
 think the fish which broke my hook rose again at the 
 artificial fly in the same place. 
 
 HAL. — I think you are mistaken. Salmon are 
 usually shyer even than trout, and I never knew one 
 in this season, that had been pricked even slightly, 
 rise again at the artificial fly in the same pool. I 
 should say, that their habits are precisely the same, 
 but with more sagacity on the side of the salmon. It 
 must have been another fish that rose at your fly in 
 the same place. After such severe discipline, I do 
 
SIXTH DAY.] SALMON. 161 
 
 not think a fish would rise for many hours, even at a 
 natural bait. 
 
 POIET. — Your experience is so great, that I dare say 
 I was mistaken, yet it seemed a fish of the same size. 
 
 HAL. — Salmon often in this season haunt the 
 streams in pairs; but so far from rising again after 
 being pricked, they appear to me to learn, when they 
 have been some time in the river, that the artificial fly 
 is not food, even without having been touched by the 
 hook. In the river at Galway, in Ireland, I have 
 seen above the bridge some hundreds of salmon lying 
 in rapid streams, and from ^lyq to ten fishermen 
 tempting them with every variety of fly, but in vain. 
 After a fish had been thrown over a few times, and 
 risen once or twice and refused the fly, he rarely ever 
 took any notice of it again in that place. It was 
 generally nearest the tide that fish were taken, and the 
 place next the sea was the most successful stand, and 
 the most coveted; and when the water is low and 
 clear in this river, the Galway fishermen resort to the 
 practice of fishing with a naked hook, endeavouring to 
 entangle it in the bodies of the fish ; — a most unartist- 
 Uke practice. In spring fishing, I have known a 
 hungry, half-starved salmon rise at the artificial fly a 
 second time, after having been very slightly touched 
 by it ; but even this rarely happens, and when I have 
 seen it, the water has been coloured. 
 
162 8ALM0NIA. [sixth day 
 
 PHYS. — Can you tell us why the fish rise better at 
 the fly when the tide is flowing, than when it is ebbing ? 
 There seems no reason why flies should be sought for 
 by the fish at one of these seasons, rather than at 
 the other. 
 
 HAL. — The turn of the salt water brings up aquatic 
 insects, and perhaps small fish ; and I suppose salmon 
 know this, and search for food at a time when it is 
 likely to be found. I cannot think, that in these 
 pools they can be on the look-out for flies, for there 
 are never any on the surface of the water; and I 
 imagine they take the gaudy fly, with its blue king- 
 fisher and golden pheasant's feathers, for a small 
 fish. 
 
 OltN. — I have always supposed, that they took it 
 for a libellula, or dragon-fly ; for I have often seen 
 these brilliant flies haunting the water. 
 
 EAL. — I never saw a dragon-fly drop on the water, 
 or taken by a fish ; and salmon sometimes rise even in 
 the salt water, where dragon-flies are never found. 
 There is no difliculty in explaining why salmon in 
 inland rivers should take flies, where natural flies are 
 abundant ; but fish, when they have lain long in pools 
 in the river and fed on natural flies, will no longer 
 take these bright flies, and then even a trout-fly is 
 often most successful. I have sometimes thought 
 that the rising of salmon and sea trout at these bright 
 
SIXTH DAY.] INDICATIONS OF RAIN 163 
 
 flies^ as soon as they come from the sea into rivers, 
 might depend upon a sort of imperfect memory of 
 their early food and habits ; for flies form a great 
 part of the food of the salmon fry, which, before 
 migrating to the sea, feed like young trouts ; flies are 
 their principal nourishment; and in going back to 
 fresh water, they may perhaps have their habits of 
 feeding recalled to them, and naturally search for 
 their food at the surface. 
 
 POIET' — This appears to me very probable. — But 
 it is late, and we must return and compare the crimped 
 trout and salmon ; and I hope we shall have another 
 good day to-morrow, for the clouds are red in the west. 
 
 PUTS. — I have no doubt of it, for the red has a 
 tint of purple. 
 
 HAL. — Do you know why this tint portends fine 
 weather ? 
 
 PHYS. — The air, when dry, I believe, refracts 
 more red, or heat-making, rays ; and as dry air is 
 not perfectly transparent, they are again reflected in 
 the horizon. I have generally observed a coppery or 
 yellow sunset to foretel rain ; but, as an indication of 
 wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain 
 than a halo round the moon, which is produced by 
 the precipitated water ; and the larger the circle, the 
 nearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready 
 to fall. j£ 2 
 
164 SALMONIA, [sixth day. 
 
 HAL, — I have often observed, that the old proverb 
 is correct — 
 
 A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning : 
 A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight. 
 
 Can you explain this omen ? 
 
 PETS. — A rainbow can only occur when the clouds 
 containing, or depositing, the rain are opposite to the 
 sun, — and in the evening the rainbow is in the east, 
 and in the morning in the west ; and as our heavy 
 rains, in this climate, are usually brought by the 
 westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates, that 
 the bad weather is on the road, by the wind, to us ; 
 whereas the rainbow in the east proves, that the rain 
 in these clouds is passing from us. 
 
 POIET. — I have often observed, that when the 
 swallows fly high, fine weather is to be expected or 
 continued ; but when they fly low, and close to the 
 ground, rain is almost surely approaching. Can you 
 account for this ? 
 
 HAL. — Swallows follow the flies and gnats, and 
 flies and gnats usually delight in warm strata of air ; 
 and as warm air is lighter, and usually moister, than 
 cold air, when the warm strata of air are high, there 
 is less chance of moisture being thrown down from 
 them by the mixture with cold air; but when the 
 warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is 
 
SIXTH DAT.] OMENS. 165 
 
 almost certain, that, as the cold air flows down into 
 it, a deposition of water will take place. 
 
 POIET. — I have often seen sea-gulls assemble on 
 the land, and have almost always observed, that then 
 very stormy and rainy weather was approaching. I 
 conclude, that these birds, sensible of a current of 
 air flowing from the ocean, retire to the land to 
 shelter themselves from the storm. 
 
 ORN, — No such thing. The storm is their element ; 
 and the little petrel enjoys the heaviest gale, because, 
 living on the smaller sea insects, he is sure to find 
 his food in the spray of a heavy wave — and you may 
 see him flitting above the edge of the highest surge. 
 I believe, that the reason of this migration of sea- 
 gulls, and other sea birds, to the land, is their 
 security of finding food. They may be observed, at 
 this time, feeding greedily on the earth worms and 
 larvae, driven out of the ground by severe floods ; 
 and the fish, on which they prey in fine weather in 
 the sea, leave the surface, when storms prevail and 
 go deeper. The search after food, as we agreed on a 
 former occasion, is the principal cause why animals 
 change their places. The different tribes of the 
 wading birds always migrate when rain is about to 
 tak'e place ; and I remember once, in Italy, having 
 been long waiting, in the end of March, for the 
 arrival of the double snipe in the Campagna of Rome, 
 
166 SALMONIA. 
 
 SIXTH DAY. 
 
 — a great flight appeared on the 3rd of Aprils and 
 the day after heavy rain set in^ which greatly inter- 
 fered with my sport."^ The vulture^ upon the same 
 principle^ follows armies ; and I have no doubt^ that 
 the angury of the ancients was a good deal founded 
 upon the observation of the instincts of birds. 
 There are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to 
 the same source. For anglers, in spring, it is always 
 unlucky to see single magpies, — ^but two may be 
 always regarded as a favourable omen; and the 
 reason is, that in cold and stormy weather one 
 magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the 
 other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the young 
 ones ; but when two go out together, the weather is 
 warm and mild, and thus favourable for fisliing. 
 
 POIET. — The singular connexions of causes and 
 effects, to which you have just referred, make 
 superstition less to be wondered at, particularly 
 amongst the vulgar ; and when two facts, naturally 
 unconnected, have been accidentally coincident, it is 
 not singular that this coincidence should have been 
 
 * [The snipe is common in Ceylon, and throughout the year, passing 
 from one side of the island to the other, with the change of monsoon, 
 — that monsoon, which, on one side, is accompanied hy the rainy 
 season, on the other hringing in the dry season ; — thus affording a 
 striking example of migration in connection with the cause, as inti- 
 mated in the text, — a cause which seems to influence equally the 
 human race and the hrute, and may he held to he the general motive 
 one ; any other being the exception, rather than the rule. — J. D.] 
 
SIXTH DAY.] OMENS. 167 
 
 observed and registered^ and that omens of the most 
 absurd kind should be trusted in. In the west of 
 England, half a century ago, a particular hollow 
 noise on the sea coast was referred to a spirit or 
 goblin, called Bucca, and was supposed to foretel a 
 shipwreck : the philosopher knows, that sound travels 
 much faster than currents in the air — and the sound 
 always foretold the approach of a very heavy storm, 
 which seldom takes place on that wild and rocky 
 coast, surrounded as it is by the Atlantic, without a 
 shipwreck on some part of its extensive shores. 
 
 PHYS, — All the instances of omens you have 
 mentioned are founded on reason; but how can 
 you explain such absurdities as Priday being an 
 unlucky day, the terror of spilling salt, or meeting 
 an old woman ? I knew a man, of very high dignity, 
 who was exceedingly moved by these omens; and 
 who never went out shooting without a bittern's claw 
 fastened to his buttonhole by a riband, which he 
 thought ensured him good luck. 
 
 POIET. — These, as well as the omens of death- 
 watches, dreams, &c., are, for the most part, founded 
 upon some accidental coincidences; but spilling of 
 salt, on an uncommon occasion, may, as I have known 
 it, arise from a disposition to apoplexy, shown by an 
 incipient numbness in the hand, and may be a fatal 
 symptom; and persons, dispirited by bad omens, 
 
168 SALMONIA. [sixth day. 
 
 sometimes prepare the way for evil fortune; for 
 confidence in success is a great means of ensuring it. 
 The dream of Brutus, before the field of Philippi, 
 probably produced a species of irresolution and 
 despondency, which was the principal cause of his 
 losing the battle. And I have heard, that the 
 illustrious sportsman, to whom you referred just now, 
 was always observed to shoot ill, because he shot 
 carelessly, after one of liis dispiriting omens. 
 
 HAL — I have in life met with a few things, which 
 I found it impossible to explain, either by chance 
 coincidences or by natural connexions; and I have 
 known minds of a very superior class afi'ected by 
 them ; persons in the habit of reasoning deeply and 
 profoundly. 
 
 PHYS. — In my opinion, profound minds are the 
 most likely to think lightly of the resources of human 
 reason; it is the pert superficial thinker who is 
 generally strongest in every kind of unbelief. The 
 deep philosopher sees chains of causes and eff*ects so 
 wonderfully and strangely linked together, that he is 
 usually the last person to decide upon the impossibility 
 of any two series of events being independent of each 
 other ; and in science, so many natural miracles as it 
 were, have been brought to light — such as the fall of 
 stones from meteors in the atmosphere, the disarming 
 a thimder-cloud by a metallic point, the production 
 
SIXTH DAV.] OMENS. 169 
 
 of fire from ice by a metal white as silver, and 
 referring certain laws of motion of the sea to the 
 moon, — that the physical inquirer is seldom disposed 
 to assert, confidently, on any abstruse subjects belong- 
 ing to the order of natural things, and still less so on 
 those relating to the more mysterious relations of 
 moral events and intellectual natures. 
 
Leintwardine on the Teme, from a sketch by Mrs. Aston Stackhouse. 
 
 SEVENTH DAY. 
 HALIEUS—POIETES—ORNITHER—PHYSICUS. 
 
 GRAYLING FISHING. 
 
 Scene — Leintwardine^ near Ludlow. 
 
 Time — Beginning of October. 
 
 HAL. — You have reached your quarters. Here is 
 your home — a rural^ peaceable, and unassuming inn, 
 with as worthy a host and hostess as may be found 
 in tliis part of the country. The river glides at the 
 bottom of the garden, and there is no stream in 
 
SKVEKTH DAY.] GRA YLING. 171 
 
 England more productive of grayling. The surround- 
 ing scenery is not devoid of interest^ and the grounds 
 in the distance are covered with stately woods^ and 
 laid out (or rather their natural beauties developed) 
 by the hand of a master,* whose liberal and enlight- 
 ened mind even condescended to regard the amuse- 
 ments of the angler; and he could hardly have 
 contributed in a more effectual manner to their 
 comforts, than by placing the good people, who were 
 once his servants, in this comfortable inn. 
 
 PHYS. — Are we to fish according to any rule, as to 
 quantity or size of fish ? 
 
 HAL. — You are at perfect liberty to fish as you 
 like; but as it is possible you may catch grayling 
 only of this year, and which are not longer than the 
 hand, I conclude you will return such pigmies to the 
 river, as a matter of propriety, though not of necessity. 
 
 POIET. — This river seems formed of two other 
 streams, which join above our inn. What are the 
 names of its sources ? 
 
 HAL. — ^The small river to the left is called the 
 Teme, or Little Teme, and though the least stream, 
 it gives name to the river : the other, and more 
 copious stream, is called the Clun. The Little Teme 
 
 * [The late Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., of Downton Castle, 
 president for many years of the Horticultural Society, to whom an 
 edition of the author's " Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry " was 
 dedicated.] 
 
172 SALMONIA. [seventh day 
 
 contains principally trout ; the Clun_, both trout and 
 grayling; but the fish are more abundant in the 
 meadows_, between this place and Downton^ than in 
 other parts of the river ; for above^ the stream is too 
 rapid and shallow to be favourable to their increase ; 
 and below^ it is joined by other streams^ and becomes 
 too abundant in coarse fish. 
 
 POIET. — I cannot understand why the grayling 
 should be so scarce a fish in England. It is abundant 
 in many districts on the Continent ; but in this island 
 it is found, I believe, only in a few rivers ; and does 
 not exist, I think, either in Ireland or Scotland. Yet, 
 being an Alpine fish, and naturally fond of cool water, 
 it might have been expected among the Highlands. 
 
 EAL. — I formerly used to account for this, by 
 supposing it an imported fish, and not indigenous; 
 but, in some of my continental excursions, I have 
 seen it living only under such peculiar circumstances, 
 that I doubt the correctness of this my early opinion. 
 
 POIET, — ^Wliich was, I conclude, that it was 
 introduced by the monks, in the time when England 
 was under the See of Eome. As a favourite fish of 
 St. Ambrose it was worth cultivating, as weU as for 
 its own sake ; and I think you have done wrong to 
 relinquish this idea, for, as far as my recollection 
 serves me, the rivers that contain it are near the ruins 
 of great monasteries, — the Avon near Salisbury, 
 
SEVENTH day] GRAYLING. 173 
 
 the Ure near rountain^s Abbey, the Wye near the 
 great Abbey of Tintern ; and, if I am not mistaken, 
 in the lower part of this valley, there are the remains 
 of an extensive establishment of friars. 
 
 HAL, — But there are rivers near the ruins of some 
 of the most magnificent establishments of this kind in 
 Europe, and those nearest the Continent, where the 
 grayhng is not found ; for instance, in the Stour, at 
 Canterbury. And if the grayling be an imported fish, 
 it is wonderful, that it should not be found in the 
 rivers in Kent, and along the south-west coast of 
 England, as in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, 
 where the monastic establishments were numerous ; 
 and why it should be found in some rivers in the 
 mountainous parts of Wales, as in that near Llan-wrtyd 
 and the Dee — ^not near Yal Crucis Abbey, but fifteen 
 miles higher up, between Corwen and Bala. 
 
 POIET. — It may have been a fish imported from the 
 Continent, and carried to a number of rivers, only a 
 few of which may have suited its habits, and has 
 remained there and multiplied. 
 
 HAL. — ^There may be truth in what you are now 
 imagining, for the grayling requires a number of 
 circumstances in a river to enable it to increase. 
 
 POIET. — ^What circumstances are these ? 
 
 BAL. — A temperature in the water which must be 
 moderate — neither too high nor too low. Grayling 
 
174 SALMOmA, [seventh day. 
 
 axe never found in streams that run from glaciers — at 
 least near their source ; and they are killed by cold or 
 heat. I once put some grayling from the Teme, in 
 September, with some trout, into a confined water, 
 rising from a spring in the yard at Downton; the 
 grayling all died, but the trout lived. And in the hot 
 summer of 1825, great numbers of large grayling 
 died in the Avon, below Eingwood, without doubt 
 killed by the heat in July. 
 
 POIET. — But I have heard of grayling being 
 common in Lapland — at least so says Linnaeus. 
 
 SAL. — I think it must be another species of the 
 same genus, the same as Backus grayling found by 
 Captain Pranklin and his companions in North 
 America, and distinguished by a much larger back fin. 
 Having travelled with the fishing-rod in my hand 
 through most of the Alpine valleys in the south and 
 east of Europe, and some of those in Norway and 
 Sweden, I have always found the charr in the coldest 
 and highest waters ; the trout, in the brooks rising in 
 the highest and coldest mountains ; and the grayling 
 always lower, where the temperature was milder ; and 
 if in hot countries, only at the foot of mountains, not 
 far from sources which had the mean temperature of 
 the atmosphere, — as in the Yipacco, near Goritzia, 
 and in the streams which gush forth from the lime- 
 stone caverns of the Noric Alps. Besides temperature 
 
SEVENTH DAY.J GRA YLING. 175 
 
 grayling require a peculiar character in the disposition 
 of the water of rivers. They do not dwells like trout^ 
 in rapid shallow torrents ; nor, like charr or chub, in 
 deep pools or lakes. They require a combination of 
 stream and pool ; they like a deep still pool for rest, 
 and a rapid stream above, and a gradually declining 
 shallow below, and a bottom where marl or loam is 
 mixed with gravel ; and they are not found abundant 
 except in rivers that have these characters. It is 
 impossible to have a more perfect ' specimen of a 
 grayling river than that now running before us, in this 
 part of its course. You see a succession of deep still 
 pools under shady banks of marl, with gentle rapids 
 above, and a long shelving tail, where the fish sport 
 and feed. Should there be no such pools in a river, 
 grayling would remain, provided the water was clear, 
 and would breed ; but they cannot stem rapid streams, 
 and they are gradually carried down lower and lower, 
 and at last disappear. You know the Test, one of 
 the finest trout streams in Hampshire, and of course 
 in England ; when I first knew this stream, twenty 
 years ago, there were no grayling in it. A gentleman 
 brought some from the Avon, and introduced them 
 into the river at Longstock, above Stockbridge. 
 They were for two or three years very abundant in 
 that part of the river ; but they gradually descended, 
 and though they multiplied greatly, there are now 
 
176 8ALM0NIA, 
 
 SEVENTH DAY. 
 
 scarcely any above Stockbridge. There were, four 
 years ago, many in the river just below ; but this year 
 there are very few there, and the great proportion 
 that remains is found below Houghton. I ought to 
 mention, that the water is particularly fitted for them, 
 and they become larger in this river than in their 
 native place, the Avon, — some of them weighing 
 between 3 and 4 lbs. The trout, in all its habits of 
 migration, runs upward, seeking the fresh and cool 
 waters of mountain-sources to spawn in: the grayling, 
 I believe, has never the same habit of running up 
 stream; I never saw one leaping at a fall, where 
 trout are so often seen. Their large back fin seems 
 intended to enable them to rise and sink rapidly in 
 deep pools; and the slender nature of the body, 
 towards the tail, renders them much more unfit for 
 leaping cataracts than trout and salmon. The temper- 
 ature of the water, and its character as to still and 
 rapid, seem of more importance than clearness ; for 
 I have seen grayling taken in streams, that are 
 almost constantly turbid, — as in the Inn and the 
 Saka in the Tyrol. This fish appears to require food 
 of a particular kind, feeding much upon flies and 
 their larvse, and not usually preying upon small fish, 
 as the trout. It has a very strong stomach, in 
 texture like that of the giUaroo trout, and is 
 exceedingly fond of those larvse which inhabit cases. 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] GRA YLIJSTG. 177 
 
 and are usually covered with sand or gravel. I once 
 caught a grayling in the "Wochain Save, that weighed 
 about a pound and a half, the stomach of which 
 equalled in size a very large walnut, and contained 
 some small shells, and two or three white round 
 pebbles as large as small beans. In accordance with 
 their general habits of feeding, grasshoppers are 
 amongst their usual food in the end of summer and 
 autumn ; and at all seasons, maggots, upon fine tackle 
 and a small hook, offer a secure mode of taking them, 
 — the pool having been previously baited for the 
 purpose of angling, by throwing in a handful or two 
 a few minutes before. 
 
 POIET. — You just now said, that you thought the 
 Lapland fish, considered by Linnaeus as grayling, 
 was the same as Backus grayling ; but I find, in the 
 Appendix to Captain Franklin's narration, two gray- 
 lings described as belonging to the northern regions, 
 — one the Coregonus Signifer, and another, which 
 appears to differ very little from it, except being small 
 in size. This seems to agree as nearly as possible 
 with our grayling, with a difference of at most one 
 spine in the back fin. May not this in fact be the 
 same fish as the grayling of the Alps, only rendered 
 in a succession of generations fit for a colder climate ? 
 
 HAL, — This is certainly possible ; there is no doubt 
 that, in many successive generations, animals may 
 
178 SALMONIA. [seventh day. 
 
 be fitted to bear changes^ which would have destroyed 
 their progenitors. It is said by Bloch^ that graylings 
 are found in the Caspian sea^ and in the Baltic^ — 
 masses of saline water ; though,, as I have proved^ the 
 grayling of England will not bear even a brackish 
 water without dying. And notwithstanding the 
 severity of the winter in high northern latitudes, 
 streams under the ice may retain a temperature not 
 much lower than some of the Alpine rivers. I have 
 seen grayUng in Carniola, in a source at the hottest 
 season, not quite 50°; and as, in large bodies of 
 water, the deepest part, in frost, is generally the 
 warmest, about 40°, the degree at which water is 
 heaviest, I see no reason why grayling may not be 
 habituated to such a temperature — coolness being 
 generally favourable to their existence. But see, the 
 fog which had filled the valley and hid the mountains 
 from our sight is clearing away, and I fear it wHl be 
 a hot day. Before the sun becomes too bright is 
 the best time for fishing, in such a day as this. As 
 soon as the fog is faii'ly ofiP, the water-flies will begin 
 to appear, and fish to sport. 
 
 PUTS. — I see the fog has abeady disappeared from 
 the deep water in the meadow, wiiere, I suppose, the 
 warmth of the air, from the considerable mass of the 
 water, is greater ; and which is further removed from 
 the liills sending down cuiTents of cold air, from the 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] GBA YLING. 179 
 
 mixture of which with the moist warm air above the 
 river this phenomenon is produced. I see some yellow 
 flies beginning to come out ; they have already felt 
 the influence of the warm air; and look, a fish has 
 just risen opposite that bank^ and he rises again ; let 
 us prepare our tackle. 
 
 POIET. — What flies shall we employ ? 
 
 HAL. — I recommend at least three ; for the grayling 
 lies deeper and is not so shy a fish as the trout ; and, 
 provided your link is fine, is not apt to be scared by the 
 cast of flies on the water. The fineness of the link, 
 and of the guts to which your fiies are attached, is a 
 most essential point, and the clearer the stream the 
 finer should be the tackle. I have known good 
 fishermen foiled by using a gut of ordinary thickness, 
 though their fiy was of the right size and colour. 
 Very slender transparent gut of the colour of the 
 water is one of the most important causes of success 
 in grayling fishing. Let me see your book : I will 
 select a fine stretcher. Now, for the lowest fly, use a 
 yellow-bodied fly, with red hackle for legs, and land- 
 rails wing; for the second, a blue dun, with dun 
 body ; and for the highest, the claret coloured body, 
 with blue wings; and let your first dropper fly be 
 about three feet from the stretcher and from the 
 other dropper, and let the hanging link which attaches 
 them be 3i inches long. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 SALMON I A. [seventh day. 
 
 PHYS. — ^There are several fish rising : I shall tlirow 
 at that opposite — he appears large. 
 
 II AL. — It is a trout and not a grayling. 
 
 PHYS. — How do you know ? 
 
 BAL. — By his mode of rising. He is lying at the 
 top of the water, taking the flies as they sail down by 
 him, which a grayhng scarcely ever does. He rises 
 rapidly from the bottom or middle of the water, on 
 the contrary — darting upwards, and, having seized 
 his fly, returns to his station. There ! a grayling has 
 risen. I do not mean, however, that this habit is in- 
 variable; I have sometimes seen trout feed like 
 grayling, and grayling like trout, but neither of these 
 fish emits bubbles of air in rising, as dace and chub do. 
 
 
 7.-,^!^i'J 
 
 
 Grayling. 
 
 PHYS. — I have one ! He has taken my blue dun, 
 and must be a small one, for he plays with no 
 vigour. 
 
 HAL. — He is about |lb. — a fish of two years and 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] GRA YLING. 181 
 
 a half old — very good for the table. I will land him 
 if possible. 
 
 PHTS, — There ! He is off ! 
 
 HAL — This liappens often with grayling : their 
 mouths are tender^ and unless the hook catches in the 
 upper Kp, which is rather thick^ it is more than an 
 equal chance that the fish escapes you. 
 
 PHYS. — Here, I have another,, that has taken the 
 stretcher, and as it is a larger hook, I hope he may 
 be held. He is likewise a larger fish — ^but how oddly 
 he spins ! This, I suppose, must be owing to his 
 large back fin, by which the stream carries him round. 
 There he is : he has quite twisted my link ; it would 
 not be amiss to have swivels for this kind of fishing. 
 
 HAL. — It is a fish in good season, — dark above, 
 fair below, and weighs, I should suppose, about 1 Jib. 
 
 PHYS. — As this is the first grayling I have seen of 
 my own taking, I must measure, w^eigh, and examine 
 him. 
 
 HAL. — We can do this hereafter. See, our fish 
 barrel ; he can be kept alive till a more convenient 
 time of the day. 
 
 PHYS- — I am disposed to gratify my curiosity 
 immediately ; for to acquire information is at least as 
 interesting to me as catching fish. I shall kill him 
 by a blow on the head. He is not, I suppose, wortli 
 crimping afterwards ? 
 
182 
 
 SALMON I A. 
 
 [seventh day. 
 
 HAL. — Certainly not^ at this time ; and it is not 
 necessary with a fish of tliis size, which ought to be 
 
 Grayling. 
 
 fried ; but if w^e catch a large grayling, approaching 
 to 2 lbs., he shall be killed, crimped, and boiled, like 
 our Denliam trout ; you will then find him excellent, 
 and not inferior, in my opinion, to the best perch — 
 more like the most exquisitely tasted of all our fish, 
 the red mullet. 
 
 PHYS. — Out of the water, this is a handsome fish, 
 broader round the middle, and more hog-backed than 
 the trout, but gracefully tapering towards the tail. 
 The belly, I see, is silvery with yellow ; and tlie 
 pectoral, ventral, and anal fins are almost gold- 
 coloured ; the back gray with small black spots, and 
 the back fin of a beautiful bright purple, with black 
 and blue spots. It has likemse an agreeable odour j 
 so that both from its colour and smell it does not 
 seem undeserving the title given it by St. Ambrose, of 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] GRA YLINO. 183 
 
 the flower of fishes. It measures, I find, 14 inches 
 in length; in girth 7 i. It weighs 17 ounces. It 
 has 10 spines in the pectoral fin, 23 in the dorsal, 
 16 in the ventral, 14 in the anal, and 18 in the 
 caudal.* 
 
 HAL. — Now for its anatomy. Its stomach is very 
 thick, not unlike that of a charr or giUaroo trout, and 
 contains flies, gravel, and larvae, with their cases. 
 The liver and bowels do not differ much from those 
 of a trout ; and the ovaria or roe, with eggs as large 
 as mustard seed, are on each side the air bladder. 
 Though a thicker fish, the grayling does not weigh 
 much more than the trout in proportion to his length : 
 the greater breadth of back is compensated by the 
 more rapid tapering of tail, and a trout in very high 
 season wiU sometimes equal in weight a grayling of 
 the same length. The ova in this fish, and in the 
 species generally, are very small at this time of the 
 year; but in the beginning of April, the season of 
 their spawning, they become nearly as large as the 
 ova of the trout — of the size of peppercorns. But I 
 see, Poietes, your rod is in order, and there are many 
 fish rising in this deep pool, some of which are large 
 grayling. The blue dun is on in quantity, and we 
 
 [ * Its eye is marked by an angular pupil, pointed anteriorly ; its 
 mouth by its small and few teeth, situated in the lips and vomer ; its 
 odour, commonly faint and indistinct, by some is thought to resemble 
 that of thyme. — J. D.] 
 
184 SALMONIA. [seventh day. 
 
 have both cloud and wind^ which half an hour ago we 
 had no right to expect. Let me advise you to use 
 three flies of different shades of the dun ; the stretcher, 
 a pale blue with yellow body; the first dropper, a 
 winged fly with dun body; and the third, a similar 
 fly with dark body. There, you see; he rose and 
 refused your stretcher — and again he has a second 
 time refused it. I think the colour of the dubbing 
 is too bright : try a winged fly for the stretcher with 
 a greenish body. Good — ^he has taken it, and ought 
 to be a large fish. Now we have him : he is at least 
 sixteen inches long, and in good season. Ornither, 
 I advise you to use the same kind of fly, and to put 
 up your tackle precisely in the same way as Poietes 
 has done. 
 
 POIET. — How well they rise ! At that moment I 
 had two on my line : one of them is gone, but I hope 
 I shall land the other. 
 
 HAL. — Fish with activity while the cloud lasts. I 
 fear the sun is coming out, when it will be more 
 difficult to take fish. I shall try the next pool, and I 
 advise you to follow me and fish by turns, — ^passing 
 each other, and taking different pools below, and so 
 wend your way downwards, fishing wherever you see 
 fish sporting. There is no better part of the river 
 than that pool below you, and you cannot take a wrong 
 direction. Immediately beyond Burrington Bridge 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] GRA YLING FISHING. 185 
 
 you will find two excellent pools^ and I advise you to 
 go no farther down to-day. If you take a fish 
 approaching 2 lbs., keep him alive in the fish barrel 
 for crimping ; the smaller fish you can kill, and carry 
 with some rushes in your basket ; we shall at least be 
 able to send a dish of grayling to the patron of our 
 sport at Downton. 
 
 NOON. 
 
 HAL. — ^Well, gentlemen, I hope you have been 
 successful. 
 
 POIET. — We have had good sport ; but I have been 
 for some time reposing on this bank, and admiring 
 the scene below. How fine are these woods ! How 
 beautiful these banks ! the hills in the distance 
 approach to the character of mountains; and the 
 precipitous cliff, wliich forms the summit of that 
 distant elevation, looks like a diluvian monument, and 
 as if it had been bared and torn by a deluge, wliich 
 it had stemmed. 
 
 HAL — It is one of the Clee hiUs, and its termina- 
 tion is basaltic, and such rocks usually assume such 
 forms. But though this spot is beautiful, to-morrow 
 I hope to show you a more exquisite landscape, — 
 cliffs and woods, and gushing waters, of a character still 
 more romantic. We wiU return to our inn by a 
 
186 SALMONIA, [seventh day. 
 
 shorter road; but tell me^ have you caught a large 
 fish amongst you^ and preserved him for crimping ? 
 
 POIET. — "VYe have preserved two fishes in the barrel, 
 but I fear they are much below your proposed size. 
 
 EAL. — They are good fish, and of the average size 
 of the large grayling in this stream — 16 inches long, 
 and about l^lb. ; they will make a good variety 
 boiled and placed in the middle of the fried fish. 
 And how many have you caught altogetlier ? 
 
 POIET. — I have basketed (to coin a word) tliree 
 trout and six grayling. 
 
 PHYS. — And I have taken seven grayling. I 
 caught trout likewise, but, not considering them in 
 proper season, I returned them to the river: but 
 Ornither has been the most successful ; he has killed 
 ten grayling. 
 
 HAL, — The trout is rarely good in this river — at 
 least I never saw one that cut red, and yet I have 
 taken them in July, when their external appearance 
 was perfect and beautiful ; but they have, to my taste, 
 always a flabby and soft character of flesh, and at all 
 seasons here are inferior for the table to grayling ; yet 
 they often attain a considerable size. There are few 
 small fish in these streams, and I suppose the grayling, 
 which are most numerous, deprive the trout of their 
 proper share of the food, depending upon larvae 
 and flies. 
 
SEVENTH DAT.] HABITS OF GRAYLING. 187 
 
 PETS. — As we are walking througli these meadows, 
 pray give us some information as to the habits of the 
 grayling, and its localities in England : I have been 
 so much pleased with my sport, that I shall become, 
 with St. Ambrose, a patron of the fish. 
 
 HAL. — The habits of the grayling, like those of 
 most other fish, are very simple. He is, I believe, to 
 a certain extent, gregarious — more so than the trout, 
 and less so than the perch, and the usual varieties of 
 the carp species known in England. His form and 
 appearance you have seen. He is as yet scarcely in 
 his highest or most perfect season, which is in the 
 end of November or beginning of December, when his 
 back is very dark, almost black, and his belly and lower 
 fins are nearly gold-coloured ; but his brightness, like 
 that of most other fishes, depends a good deal upon the 
 nature of the water ; and on the continent I have seen 
 fishes far more brilliantly coloured than in England — 
 the lower part almost a bright orange, and the back fin 
 approaching to the colour of the damask rose, or 
 rather of an anemone. The grayling spawns in April, 
 and sometimes as late as the beginning of May : the 
 female is generally then followed by two or three 
 males. She deposits her ova in the tails of sharp 
 streams, and the males, rubbing against her, shed 
 upon the ova the milt or spermatic fluid. I do not 
 know how long a time is required for the exclusion 
 
188 - SALMONIA. [seventh day, 
 
 of tlie young ones; but in the end of July, or 
 beginning of August, tbey are of the size of sprats, 
 four or five inches long, and already sport merrily at 
 a fly. Though I have often taken grayling in bad 
 season, yet I have rarely observed upon them the 
 same kind of leech,* or louse, wliich is so often found 
 upon the trout ; from which I infer, that they seldom 
 hide themselves, or become torpid in the mud. The 
 grayling hatched in May or June, I conclude, become 
 the same year, in September or October, nine or ten 
 niches long, and weigh from five ounces to half a 
 pound; and the year after they are from twelve to 
 fifteen inches long, and weigh from tliree -quarters to 
 a pound ; and these two sizes, as you have seen, are 
 the fish that most usually rise at the fly. The first 
 size in this river is called shotey which is a Celtic 
 word, I believe applied likewise in the west of England 
 
 * I may mention one remarkable instance as an exception, which 
 has recently occurred to me, the 21st of May, 1828. I was fishing in 
 the Save, between Wochain and Veldes, in some deep, clear, bright, 
 green pools. I caught five or six grayling between 15 and 17 inches 
 long, that had all leeches near the tail ; they were beautifully 
 coloured, and had probably got these parasitic animals after their 
 spawning, when they reposed. Of course this was the time when they 
 were in their worst season, as they were just beginning to recover 
 from the work of generation. At this time they often rose at and 
 refused the fly, but there were as yet no large flies on the water. The 
 leech was a small greenish dark worm, about an inch or an inch and a 
 half long, like a common leech in form and colour. 
 
SEVENTH DAY.J GRAYLING RIVERS. 180 
 
 to small trout.* Of their growth after the second 
 year I cannot speak; this must depend much on 
 their food and place of residence. Marsigli says, 
 they do not grow after the third year, and at this age, 
 in Austria, they are sometimes a cubit long; but 
 though I have fished much in that country, I never 
 sav7 any so long. If they are taken into new and 
 comparatively still water recently made, and where 
 food is plenty, they grow very fast; under these 
 circumstances, I have seen them above 3 lbs. In the 
 Test, where, as I mentioned before, the grayling has 
 been only recently introduced, they have sometimes 
 been caught between 3 and 4 lbs. — in this river I 
 never took one above 2 lbs., but I have heard of one 
 being taken of 2ilbs. The grayling is a rare fish in 
 England, and has never been found in Scotland and 
 Ireland (as Poietes observed before) ; and there are 
 few rivers containing all the conditions necessary for 
 their increase. I know of no grayling river farther 
 west than the Avon in Hampshire : they are found in 
 some of the tributary streams of this river which rise 
 
 [* Some of the circumstances stated in the text above admit of 
 doubt, — as that of the contact of the male and female fish in the act of 
 spawning ; that of the young grayling, tlie shote, met with in Septem- 
 ber and October, being only four or five months old : from such 
 information as I have been able to collect, I am led to infer, that like 
 the salmon, the breeding fishes merely follow each other closely; and 
 that the shote is at least one year old. — J.D.] 
 
190 SALMON I A. [seventh da?. 
 
 in Wiltshire. I know of no river containing them 
 on the north coast west of the Severn : there are very 
 few only in the upper part of this river^ and in the 
 streams which form it in North Wales. There are a 
 few in the Wye and its tributary streams. In the 
 Lug, which flows through the next valley, in Hereford- 
 shire, many grayling are found. In the Dee, as I 
 have said before, they are found, but are not common. 
 In Derbyshire and Staffordshire, the Dove, the Wye, 
 the Trent, and the BUthe, afford grayling ; in 
 Yorkshire, on the north coast, some of the tributary 
 streams of the Eibble, — and in the south, the Ure, the 
 Wharfe, the Humber, the Derwent, and the streams 
 that form it, particularly the Eye. There may be 
 some other localities of this fish unkno^vn to me ; but 
 as I have fished much, and inquired much respecting 
 the places where it is found, I think my information 
 tolerably correct and complete. 
 
 PHYS. — Is tliis fish to be fished for in spring? 
 
 HAL — He is to be fished for at all times, for he is 
 rarely so much out of season as to be a bad fish ; and 
 when there are flies on the water, he will generally 
 take them : but as the trout may be considered as a 
 spring and summer fish, so the grayling may be 
 considered as a winter and autumnal fish. 
 
 PHYS. — Of course the grayling is taken in spring 
 with the same imitation of flies as the trout ? 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] BAITS FOR GRA YLING. 191 
 
 HAL. — The same. As far as flies are concerned^ 
 these two species feed ahke; though I may say, 
 generally, that the grayhng prefers smaller flies, and 
 the varieties of the ephemerse or pln-yganese, of the 
 smallest size, form their favourite food. Yet grayhng 
 do not refuse large flies ; and in the Avon and Test, 
 May flies, and even moths, are greedily taken in the 
 summer by large grayling. Plies, likewise, that do 
 not inhabit the water, but are blown from the land, 
 are good baits for grayhng. There is no method 
 more killing, for large grayling, than applying a 
 grasshopper to the point of a leaded hook, the lead 
 and shank of which are covered with green and yellow 
 silk, to imitate the body of the animal. This mode 
 of fisliing is called sinking and drawing. I have seen 
 it practised in this river with as much success as 
 maggot fishing; and the fish taken were all of the 
 largest size ; the method being most successful in deep 
 holes, where the bottom was not visible, which are the 
 natural haunts of such fish. In the winter, grayling 
 rise for an hour Or two, in bright and tolerably warm 
 weather ; and, at this time, the smallest imitations of 
 black or pale gnats that can be made, on the smallest 
 sized hook, succeed best in taking them. In March, 
 the dark-bodied willow fly may be regarded as the 
 earUest fly ; the imitation of which is made by a dark 
 claret dubbing and a dun hackle, or four small 
 
19^ 8ALM0NIA. [seventh day. 
 
 starling's wing feathers. Tiie blue dun comes on in 
 the middle of the day in this month, and is imitated by 
 dun hackles for -v^dngs and legs, and an olive dubbing 
 for body. In mild weather, in morning and evening 
 in this month, and through April, the green tail, or 
 grannom, comes on in great quantities, and is weU 
 imitated by a hen pheasant's wing feather, a gray or 
 red hackle for legs, and a dark peacock's harle, or 
 dark hare's ear fur, for the body. The same kind of 
 fly, of a larger size, with paler wings, kills well in the 
 evening, through May or June. The imitation of a 
 water insect called the spider fly, with a lead coloured 
 body and woodcock's wings, is said to be a killing 
 bait, on this and other rivers, in the end of April 
 and beginning of May ; but I never happened to see 
 it on the water. The dark alder fly, in May and June, 
 is taken greedily by the fish : it is imitated by a dark- 
 shaded pheasant's wing, black hackle for legs, and a 
 peacock's harle, ribbed with red silk, for the body. 
 At this season, and in July, imitations of the black 
 and red palmer worms, which I believe are taken for 
 black or bro^vn, or red beetles or cockchaffers, kill 
 well; and, in dark weather, there are usually very, 
 light duns on the water. In August, imitations of 
 the house fly and bhie bottle, and the red and black 
 ant fly, are taken, and are particularly killing after 
 floods in autumn, when great quantities of the fly are 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] BAITS FOR GRA YLING. 193 
 
 destroyed and washed down the river. In this 
 month, in cloudy days, pale-blue duns often appear; 
 and they are still more common in September. 
 Throughout the summer and autumn, in fine calm 
 evenings, a large dun fly, with a pale yellow body, is 
 greedily taken by grayling after sunset; and the 
 imitation of it is very killing. In the end of October, 
 and through November, there is no fly fishing but in 
 the middle of the day, when imitations of the smaller 
 duns may be used with great success ; and I have 
 often seen the fish sport most, and fly fishing pursued 
 with the greatest success, in bright sunshine, from 
 twelve till half-past two o^ clock, after severe frosts in 
 the morning; and I once caught, under these 
 circumstances, a very fine dish of fish on the 7th of 
 November. It was in the year 1816 ; the summer 
 and autumn had been peculiarly cold and wet, and, 
 probably in consequence of this, the flies were in 
 smaller quantity at their usual season, and there 
 was a greater proportion later in the year. Grayling, 
 if you take your station by the side of a river, will 
 rise nearer to you than trout, for they lie deeper, 
 and therefore are not so much scared by an object 
 on the bank; but they are more delicate in the 
 choice of their flies than trout, and will much oftener 
 rise and refuse the fly. Trout, from lying nearer the 
 surface, are generally taken before grayling, where the 
 
194 SALMONIA, [seventh day 
 
 water is slightly coloured^ or after a flood : and in 
 rain, trout usually rise better than grayling, though it 
 sometimes happens, when great quantities of flies 
 come out in rain, grayling, as well as trout, are 
 taken with more certainty than at any other time ; — 
 the artificial fly, in such cases, looks like a wet fly, 
 and allures even the grayling, which generally is more 
 diflicult to deceive than trout in the same river. 
 
 PHYS, — As I was looking into a ditch coming 
 down the river, wliich is connected with it, I saw a 
 very large eel at the bottom, that appeared to me to 
 be feeding on a small grayling : — are there many of 
 this fish in the Teme, and do they breed here ? 
 
 HAL. — There are many of this fish in the river ; but 
 to your question, do they breed here ? I must answer in 
 the negative. The problem of their generation is the 
 most abstruse, and one of the most curious, in natural 
 history; and though it occupied the attention of 
 Aristotle, and has been taken up by most distinguished 
 naturalists since his time, it is still unsolved. 
 
 PHTS. — I thought there was no doubt on the 
 subject. Lacepede, whose book is the only scientific 
 one on fishes I have read with attention, asserts, in 
 the most unqualified way, that they are viviparous. 
 
 HAL. — I remember his assertion, but I looked in 
 vain for proofs. 
 
 PHYS. — I do not remember any facts brought 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] GENERATION OF EELS. ' 195 
 
 forward on the subject ; but tell us what you think 
 upon it. 
 
 HAL. — I will teU you all I know, which is not much. 
 This is certain, that there are two migrations of eels, 
 — one up and one down rivers, one ^from and the 
 other to the sea ; the first in spring and summer, the 
 second in autumn or early winter. The first, of very 
 small eels, which are sometimes not more than two or 
 two and a half inches long ; the second, of large eels, 
 which sometimes are three or four feet long, and 
 weigh from 10 to 15, or even 201bs. There is great 
 reason to believe, that aU eels found in fresh water 
 are the results of the first migration ; they appear in 
 miUions in April and May, and sometimes continue 
 to rise as late even as July and the beginning of 
 August. I remember this was the case in Ireland, in 
 1823. It had been a cold backward summer, and 
 when I was at Ballyshannon, about the end of July, 
 ' the mouth of the river, which had been in flood aU 
 this month, under the fall, was blackened by millions 
 of little eels, about as long as the finger, which were 
 constantly urging their way up the moist rocks by 
 the side of the fall. Thousands died, but their bodies 
 remaining moist, served as the ladder for others to 
 make their way ; and I saw some ascending even per- 
 pendicular stones, making their road through wet moss, 
 or adhering to some eels, that had died in the attempt. 
 
 o2 
 
196 SALMONIA. [seventh day. 
 
 Such is the energy of these little animals, that they 
 continue to find their way, in immense numbers, to 
 Loch Erne. The same thing happens at the Pall of 
 the Bann, and Loch Neagh is thus peopled by them ; 
 even the mighty Fall of Schaif hausen does not prevent 
 them from making their way to the Lake of 
 Constance, where I have seen many very large eels. 
 
 PETS, — You have shown, that some eels come 
 from the sea, but I do not think the facts prove, 
 that all eels are derived from that source. 
 
 BAL. — Pardon me — I have not concluded. There 
 are eels in the Lake of Bourget, which communicates 
 by a stream with the Ehine ; but there are none in 
 the Leman Lake, because the Rhone makes a 
 subterraneous fall below Geneva; and though small 
 eels can pass by moss, or mount rocks, they cannot 
 penetrate limestone, or move against a rapid 
 descending current of water, passing, as it were, 
 through a pipe. Again ; no eels mount the Danube 
 from the Black Sea; and there are none found in 
 the great extent of lakes, swamps, and rivers com- 
 municating with the Danube, — though some of 
 these lakes and morasses are wonderfully fitted for 
 them, and though they are found abundantly in the 
 same countries, in lakes and rivers connected with 
 the ocean and the Mediterranean. Yet, when 
 brought into confined water in the Danube, they 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] MIGRATION OF EELS. 197 
 
 fatten and thrive there. As to the instinct, wliich 
 leads young eels to seek fresh water, it is difficult to 
 reason: — ^probably they prefer warmth; and, swimming 
 at the surface in the early summer, find the lighter 
 water warmer, and likewise containing more insects, 
 and so pursue the courses of fresh water, as the 
 waters from the land, at this season, become warmer 
 than those of the sea. Mr. J. Couch (Lin. Trans, 
 t. xiv. p. 70) says, that the little eels, according to his 
 observation, are produced within reach of the tide, 
 and climb round falls to reach fresh water from the 
 sea. T have sometimes seen them, in spring, 
 swimming in immense shoals in the Atlantic, in 
 Mount's Bay, making their way to the mouths of 
 small brooks and rivers. When the cold water from 
 the autumnal floods begins to swell the rivers, this 
 fish tries to return to the sea; but numbers of the 
 smaller ones hide themselves during the winter in 
 the mud, and many of tliem form, as it were, 
 masses together. Yarious authors have recorded the 
 migration of eels in a singular way, — such as Dr. 
 Plot, who, in his History of Staftbrdshire, says, that 
 they pass in the night, across meadows, from one 
 pond to another ; and Mr. Arderon (in Trans. Eoyal 
 Soc.) gives a distinct account of small eels rising up 
 the flood-gates and posts of the water-works of the 
 city of Norwich; and they made their way to the 
 water above, though the boards were smooth planed 
 
198 SALMONIA. [seventh day. 
 
 and five or six feet perpendicular. He sa^s, when 
 they first rose out of the water upon the (\i'\ board, 
 they rested a little — which seemed to be till their 
 slime was thrown out, and sufficiently glan ous, — 
 and then they rose up the perpendicular asis ut with 
 the same facility as if they had been mox ; on a 
 plane surface. — (Trans. Abr. vol. ix. p. 3ii.; There 
 can, I think, be no doubt, that they are assisted by 
 their small scales, which, placed like those ol scipents, 
 must facilitate their progressive motion:"^ tiitse scales 
 have been microscopically observed by Leueiilioeck. 
 — (Phil. Trans, vol. iv.) Eels migrate froin tiie salt 
 water of different sizes, but I believe never when 
 they are above a foot long — and the great mass of 
 them are only from two and a half to four inches. 
 They feed, grow, and fatten in fresh water. In small 
 rivers they are seldom very large ; but in large deep 
 lakes they become as tliick as a man's arm, or even 
 leg ; and aU those of a considerable size attempt 
 to return to the sea in October or November, 
 probably wdien they experience the cold of the first 
 autumnal rains. Those that are not of the largest 
 size, as I said before, pass the winter in the deepest 
 parts of the mud of rivers and lakes, and do not seem 
 to eat much, and remain, I believe, almost torpid. 
 
 ♦ [Relative to this opinion, and the following one. that the conger 
 and eel are not distinct species, see additional note at the end of the 
 volume. — J. D.] 
 
SEVENTH DAY.] CONGER EEL. 199 
 
 Their increase is not certainly known in any given 
 time; it must depend upon the quantity of tlieir 
 food ; but it is probable they do not become of the 
 largest size^ from the smallest, in one or even two 
 seasons ; but this, as well as many other particulars, 
 can only be ascertained by new observations and 
 experiments. Bloch states, that they grow slowly, and 
 mentions, that some had been kept in the same pond 
 for fifteen years. As very large eels, after having 
 migrated, never return to the river again, they must 
 (for it cannot be supposed that they all die imme- 
 diately in the sea) remain in salt water ; and there is 
 great probability, that they are then confounded with 
 the conger, which is found of different colours and 
 sizes — from the smallest to the largest — from a few 
 ounces to one hundred pounds in weight. The colour 
 of the conger is generally paler than that of the eel ; 
 but, in the Atlantic, it is said, that pale congers are 
 found on one side of the "WoK Eock, and dark ones 
 on the other. The conger has breathing tubes, which 
 are said not to be found in the other eel : but to 
 determine this w^ould require a more minute examina- 
 tion than has yet been made. Both the conger and 
 common eel have fringes along the air bladder, w^hich 
 are probably the ovaria; and Sir E. Home thinks 
 them hermaphrodite, and that the reproductive ves- 
 sels are close to the kidneys."^ I hope this great 
 
 * [The best and latest researches have proved that this opinion of Sir 
 
200 SALMONIA. [seventh day. 
 
 comparative anatomist will be able to confirm liis views 
 by new dissections^ and some chemical researches upon- 
 the nature of the fringes and the supposed milt. If 
 viviparous^ and the fringes contain the ova^ one 
 mother must produce tens of thousands^ the ova being 
 remarkably small ; but it appears more probable^ that 
 they are oviparous, and that they deposit their ova in 
 parts of tne sea near deep basins, which remam warm 
 in winter. This might be ascertained by experiment, 
 particularly on the coasts of the Mediterranean. I 
 cannot find, that they haunt the Arctic ocean, which is 
 probably of too low a temperature to suit their 
 feelings or habits ; and the Caspian and the Black Sea 
 are probably without them, from their not being found 
 in the Yolga or Danube ; these, being shallow seas, 
 are perhaps too cold for them in winter. IProm the 
 time (April) that small eels begin to migrate, it is 
 probable that they are generated in winter ; and the 
 pregnant eels ought to be looked for in November, 
 December, and January. I opened one in December, 
 in which the fringes were abundant, but I did not 
 examine them under the microscope, or chemically : 
 I trust this curious problem will not remain much 
 longer unsolved. 
 
 E. Home is unfoun(ied,and that that which the author considered as most 
 probably correct is true, — viz. that the sexes are distinct. — Sir E. 
 Home was led into error by the similarity of the ovaries and testes in 
 their form and structure as seen by the naked eye. — J. D.] 
 
Downton Castle on the Teme; from a sketch by Mrs. Stackhouse Acton. 
 
 EIGHTH DAY. 
 HALIEUS^POIETES—ORNITHER—PHYSICUS, 
 
 Scene — Downton. 
 POIET, — This is a beautiful day, and, I tliink, for 
 fishing, as well as for the enjojonent of the scenery, 
 finer than yesterday. The wind blows from the 
 south, and is balmy ; and though a few clouds are 
 collecting, they are not sufficiently dense to exclude 
 
202 SALMOJsflA. [eighth day. 
 
 the warmth of the sun ; and, as lovers of the angle, 
 we ought to prefer his warmth to his hght. 
 
 HAL. — I do not think, as the day advances, there 
 will be any deficiency of light ; and I shall not be 
 sorry for this, as it will enable you to see the grounds 
 of Downton, and the distances in the landscape, to 
 more advantage : nor wi^ light interfere much with 
 our sport in this valley, where, as you see, there is no 
 want of shade. 
 
 POIET. — Tliis spot is really very fine. The fall 
 of water, the picturesque mill, the abrupt cliff, and 
 the bank, covered with noble oaks, above the river, 
 compose a scene such as I have rarely beheld in this 
 island. 
 
 HAL. — We will wander a little longer through the 
 walks. There you will enter a subterraneous passage 
 in the rock beyond the mossy grotto. Behold, 
 the castle, or mansion-house, clothed in beautiful 
 vegetables, of which the red creeper is most distinct, 
 rises above on the hill ! After we have finished our 
 walk and our fishing, I will, if you please, take you 
 to the house, and introduce you to its worthy master, 
 whom to know is to love, to whom all good anglers 
 should be grateful, and who has a strong claim to a 
 more extensive gratitude — that of his country and of 
 society — by his scientific researches on vegetable 
 nature, wliich are not merely curious, but useful, and 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] FLIES FOR FISHING. 203 
 
 which have abeady led to great improvements in 
 our fruits and plants, and have generally extended the 
 popularity of horticulture. 
 
 PHYS. — We shall be much obliged to you for the 
 favour — provided always that you know it will not 
 be an intrusion. 
 
 HAL. — Trust this to me. And now, as all 
 circumstances are favourable, begin your fishing. I 
 recommend to you that fine pool below the bridge; 
 there are always grayling to be caught there — and 
 already I see some rising. 
 
 PHYS. — With what imitation of flies shall we 
 fish? 
 
 HAL. — As yesterday; a yellow fly for your 
 stretcher, and two duns for the droppers. There, 
 you have a good fish. And now another — both 
 grayling. 
 
 PHYS. — I shall try the rapid at the top of this 
 long large pool ; I see several fish rising there. 
 
 HAL. — Do so. You will catch fish there — trout, 
 but I fear no grayling. 
 
 Pirr^.— Why not ? 
 
 HAL. — In that part of the stream the water is too 
 rough for grayhng, and they hke to be nearer the 
 deep water. Lower down, in the same pool, there 
 are large grayling to be caught. 
 
 PHYS, — You are in the right ; the fish I have is a 
 
204 SALMONIA. [eighth day. 
 
 large trout — at least he is not much less than 21bs. 
 I have landed him ; shall I keep him ? 
 
 HAL. — As you please : he is as good as he ever 
 was^ or ever will be in this water. 
 
 PHYS. — There are now more yellow flies out than 
 I have seen before this season. They have appeared 
 suddenly, as if sprung from that large alder. Though 
 you gave us in a former conversation some account of 
 the flies used in fishing, yet I hope you have not 
 forgot your promise, to favour us with some more 
 details on this subject, wliich, both as connected 
 with angling, and with a curious part of natural 
 history, is very interesting. 
 
 HAL. — I wish it was in my power to give you 
 information from my own experience, but, I am sorry 
 to say, this has been very limited ; and though the 
 English are peculiarly the fly fishing nation, yet our 
 philosophical anglers have not contributed much to 
 this department of science, and what has been 
 done is principally by foreigners, amongst whom 
 Swammerdam, Reaumur, and above all De Geer, are 
 pre-eminent. To attempt to collect and apply the 
 knowledge accumulated by these celebrated men, 
 would carry us far beyond the limits of a da/s 
 conversation ; and as a great proportion of the 
 insects that fly, walk, or crawl, are the food of fishes, 
 a dissertation, or discourse on this subject, would be 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] NATURAL HISTORY, 205 
 
 almost a general view of natural history. You know 
 that frogs, crawfish, snails, earthworms, spiders, 
 larvse of every kind, millipedes, beetles, squillse, 
 moths, water flies, and land flies, are all eaten by 
 trout; and I once heard the late Sir Joseph Banks 
 say, that he found a large toad stuck in the throat of 
 a trout j but as the skin of this animal is furnished 
 with an exceedingly acrid secretion, it probably had 
 been disgorged after being swallowed by a fish 
 exceedingly hungry.* But though I have found 
 most of the insect tribes, and many small fishes even 
 of the most ravenous kind, as pike, in the stomachs 
 of trout, it never happened to me to see a toad there. 
 I might give you an account of the birth and life of 
 frogs, which, with respect to their generation, 
 resemble fish, and which, when first excluded from 
 the ^^^, may be considered in the tadpole state as 
 fish ; and you would not find their singular 
 metamorphosis without interest. Or I could detail 
 to you the true histories which naturalists have given 
 
 * [Or, perhaps, by a fish of a breed that had no experience of tlie 
 poisonous qualities of the toad ; — not an improbable circumstance, 
 considering that the toad is rarely found, and never except by accident, 
 in the clear brisk streams, the favourite haunts of the trout. When 
 the toad was first introduced into Barbados, only about twenty years 
 ago, dogs, to their cost, made them their prey, some dying it is said, 
 and some becoming mad from the effects of the poison ; now taught 
 by experience, they as carefully avoid them there, as they do in this 
 country. — J.D.] 
 
206 SALMONIA, [eighth day. 
 
 of the habits of snails and earthworms, and of the 
 sexual relations of these apparently contemptible 
 animals ; — but this is too delicate a subject to dwell 
 on. Even the renewing or change of shell in the 
 crawfish, when it falls in its soft state an easy prey to 
 fish, is a curious inquiry not only for the physiologist, 
 but likewise for the chemist. On these points, I 
 must request you to refer to writers on Natural 
 History : yet I shall perform my promise, and say a 
 few words on winged insects, which, in their origin 
 and metamorphosis, offer the most extraordinary 
 known miracles perhaps of terrestrial natures. You 
 must be acquainted with the origin of our common 
 house flies ? 
 
 PHYS. — We know that they spring from maggots, 
 and that both the common and blue bottle fly deposit 
 their ova in putrid animal matter, where the eggs are 
 hatched and produce maggots; that after feeding 
 upon the decomposing animal material, they gradually 
 change, gain a hard or homy coat, seem as if entombed, 
 and wait in a kind of apparent death or slumber, till 
 they are mature for a new birth, when they burst 
 their coatings and appear in the character of novel 
 beings — fitted to inhabit another element. 
 
 HAL. — The liistory of the birth and metamorphosis 
 of all other winged insects is very similar, but with 
 peculiarities dependent upon their organs, wants, and 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] INSECT METAMORPHOSES. 207 
 
 habits. You know the curious details with which we 
 have been furnished by natural historians of bees and 
 ants, which Kve in a kind of society. The ant flies, 
 of which^ as I mentioned to you, imitations are some- 
 times used by fishermen, were originally maggots, 
 and became furnished with wings — not, however, 
 passing through the aureha state for this last trans- 
 formation. 
 
 POIET. — I beg your pardon, but, having lately 
 read an account of these animals in the very interest- 
 ing book, called ^' An Introduction to Entomology,^^ 
 I think I can correct you in one particular, which is, 
 that the maggot of the ant does assume the form of a 
 chrysalis or pupa, before it becomes a winged animal. 
 
 HAL. — It is true, that the immediate transition of 
 the maggot is into a pupa, then into an ant, which is 
 furnished with a kind of case, from which the wings 
 emerge for their perfect transformation into the fly or 
 imago state. The males die soon after performing 
 the sexual function; the females, when impregnated, 
 lose their wings, and either voluntarily or by force 
 enter into society with neuter or working ants, for 
 the purpose of raising a new generation. 
 
 POIET. — You are perfectly right; and, though it 
 would be irrelevant to our present object, I could 
 almost wish, for the sake of amusing our friends, 
 that you would detail to us some other parts of the 
 
208 8ALM0NIA. [eighth day. 
 
 marvellous history of these wonderful animals, which, 
 if not so well authenticated, might be supposed a 
 philosophical romance ; — such as the neuter or work- 
 ing ants feeding eacn other and the offspring ; — ^the 
 manner in which they make, defend, and repair their 
 dwellings, provide their food, watch and attend to the 
 female, and take care of her eggs; — their extraordinary 
 mode of acquiring and defending the aphides and 
 cocci, which bear to them the same relation that 
 cattle do to man, whicli are fed by them with so 
 much care, and the milk of which forms so important 
 a part of their food ; — the predatory excursions of a 
 particular species to carry off pupae, which they bring 
 up as slaves. 
 
 HAL. — To enter into any of the details of the 
 history of insects in society, would carry us into an 
 interminable, though interesting subject, that would 
 soon lose all relation to fly-fishing : and I fear what 
 I have to say, even on the winged insects connected 
 with tliis amusement, will occupy too much of your 
 time, for we have not more than an hour to devote to 
 this object. 
 
 POIET. — ^Tell us what you please : we are attentive. 
 
 HAL. — The various individuals of the gryllus, or 
 grasshopper tribe, spring from larvse, that do not 
 differ much from the perfect insect, except in possess- 
 ing no wings. The eggs are deposited in our meadows. 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] LIBELLULA. 209 
 
 and many species of this animal are gregarious, and 
 their emigrations in swarms are well known. The 
 butterfly and moths, as you know, lay eggs which pro- 
 duce caterpillars ; and these caterpillars, after feeding 
 upon vegetable food, spin themselves or frame houses 
 or beds, — cocoons ; in which they are transformed 
 into aurelias, and from which they burst forth as 
 perfect winged insects. The lihellula, or dragon fly, 
 the most voracious of the winged insect tribe, 
 deposits her eggs in such a manner, that the larvae 
 fall into the water, and, after destroying and feeding 
 upon almost all the aquatic insects found in this 
 element, and changing their skins at various times, 
 they emerge in their winged form the tyrants of the 
 insect generations in the air. The gnats and tipulee 
 have a similar existence. The gnat, — the female of 
 which only is said by De Geer to bite man, or suck 
 human blood, — in Sweden, lays her egg in a kind of 
 little boat or cocoon of her own spinning. These eggs 
 are hatched on the surface of the water, and produce 
 the larvse, which undergo another change into peculiar 
 nymphse, that still retain the power of swimming and 
 moving, from which the perfect insect is produced 
 during the summer heat. The flies, wliich I 
 mentioned to you in a former conversation, under 
 the name of the grannom, or green tail, {see jig. 2,) 
 are of the class jphryganece^ which includes all those 
 
PHRYGANE^, 
 
 WITH THEIE IMITATIONS OxV HOOKS. 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] PHRYQAlSfEJS. 211 
 
 water flies that have long antennae, and wings 
 something like those of the moths, but usually veined 
 and without powder. The yellow flies, which you 
 saw a short time since sporting on the banks of the 
 river, are of this kind. The phryganese [see jigs. 
 1, 2, 3, and 4,) have four wings, which, when closed, 
 lie flat on their backs, the two upper ones being 
 folded over the lower ones : the flies called by anglers 
 the willow fly, the alder fly, [see fig, 4,) and the dun 
 cut, are of this kind. The phryganese lay their eggs 
 on the leaves of willows, or other trees, that overhang 
 the water ; they are fastened by a sort of gluten to 
 the surface of the leaf : when hatched, they produce 
 small hexapode larvse, which fall into the water, and 
 bs a curious economy of nature collect round 
 themselves-^some, parts of plants or small sticks; 
 some, gravel ; and some, even shell fish. They spin 
 themselves a sort of case of silk from their bodies, 
 and by a gluten, that exudes from this case, cement 
 their materials together. They feed upon aquatic 
 plants, and sometimes upon insects, protruding only 
 their head and legs from the case. When about to 
 undergo transmutation, they quit their cases, rise to 
 the surface, and wait for this process of nature in the 
 air ; but some species fix themselves on plants or 
 stones : they burst the skin of the larvse, and appear 
 perfect animals, male and female, fitted for the office 
 
 p2 
 
EPHEMERA, 
 
 WITH THEIR IMITATIONS ON HOOKS. 
 
EIGHTH DAT.] EPHEMERM 213 
 
 of reproduction. In the early spring, the species 
 which are called green tails, from the colour of the 
 bags of eggs in the female, appear in the warm 
 gleams of sunshine that happen in cloudy days, and 
 they then cover the face of the water, and are greedily 
 seized' on by the fish. As the season advances they 
 appear principally in the morning and evening. In 
 the heat of summer the phryganese are almost 
 nocturnal flies, and seem to have the habits of moths : 
 at this season, now, I should say, the few flies that 
 appear are generally seen in the day-time. The 
 epJiemerce, another class of flies peculiarly interesting 
 to the fisherman, differ from the phryganese in 
 carrying their wings perpendicularly on their backs, 
 and in having long filaments or hairs in their tails. 
 The March brown [see fig, 8,) the various shades of 
 duns, {see figs, 5, 6, and 7,) which I described to you 
 on a former occasion; the green [see figs, 9 and 10,) 
 and white May fly, the red spinner, [see fig, 11,) are 
 all of the class ephemerae. These flies are produced 
 from larvse which inhabit the water, which can both 
 crawl and swim, and which generally live in holes 
 they make in the bottom. They change their 
 coats several times before they become nymphse; 
 they quit their skin on the surface of the water; 
 but even after they are flies, they have another 
 transformation to undergo before they are perfect 
 
EPHEMERA, 
 
 WITH THEIR IMITATIONS OX HOOKS. 
 
EIGHTH DAY.j EPHEMERA. 215 
 
 animals fitted for generation -, they make use 
 of their wings only to fly to some dry bank, or 
 trunk of a tree, where they gradually disencumber 
 themselves of the whole of the outward habihment 
 they brought from the water, including their wings ; 
 they become lighter, more beautiful in colour, and 
 then begin their sports in the sunshine — appear- 
 ing like what might ^ be imagined of spirits freed 
 from the weight of their terrestrial covering. This 
 last transmutation has been observed and fully 
 described by some celebrated naturalists, in the case 
 of the May-flies, and one or two other species, and it 
 probably will be found a general circumstance 
 attached to the class; I have often observed what 
 appeared to me to be the cast-off skins of the small 
 species of ephemerse on the banks of rivers and floating 
 in the water. The green epliemera, or May-fly, lays 
 her eggs sitting on the water, which instantly sink to 
 the bottom ; and most of the duns, or small slender- 
 winged flies, do the same. The gray, or glossy-winged 
 May-fly, commonly called the gray drake, performs 
 regular motions in the air above water, rising and 
 falling, and sitting, as it were, for a moment on the 
 surface, and rising again, at which time she is said to 
 deposit her eggs. To attempt to describe all the 
 variety of ephemerse, that sport on the surface of the 
 water at different times of the day, throughout the 
 
216 SALMONIA. [eighth day. 
 
 year, would be quite an endless labour. Some of 
 them appear to live only a few hours, and none of 
 them, I believe, have their existence protracted to 
 more than a few days. In spring and autumn a new 
 variety of these flies sometimes appears every day, or 
 even in different parts of the same day. Of the 
 beetle, or coleoptera genus, there are many varieties 
 fed on by fishes. These insects, which are distin- 
 guished, as you know, by four wings, two husky-like 
 shells above, and two slender and finer ones below, 
 are bred from eggs, which they deposit in the ground, 
 or in the excrement of animals, and v/hich, producing 
 larvse in the usual way, are converted into beetles, 
 and these larvae themselves are good bait for fish. 
 The brown beetle or cockchaffer, the fern-fly, and the 
 gray beetle, which are abundant in the meadows in 
 the summer, are often blown into the water, and are 
 the most common insects of this kind eaten by fishes. 
 Whether the ditisci and hydrophili, the water beetles, 
 are ever eaten by trout, I know not, but it is most 
 probable. These singular animals are most commonly 
 found in stagnant waters ; fitted for flying, swimming, 
 diving, and walking; they are omnivorous, and 
 usually fly from pool to pool in the evening. They 
 deposit their eggs in the water, where their larvse 
 live, but which, to undergo transmutation into the 
 beetle, migrate to the land. But there is hardly an 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] ICHNEUMONS. 217 
 
 insect that flies, including the wasp, the hornet, tlie 
 bee, and the butterfly, that does not become at some 
 time the prey of fishes. I have not, however, the 
 knowledge, or if I had, have not the time, to go 
 tlnrough the lists of these interesting little animals : 
 but of the family of one of them I must speak — the 
 ichneumons, that deposit their eggs in caterpillars, 
 or the larvae of other flies, and which feed on the 
 unfortunate animal in which they are hatched, and 
 come out of its interior when dead, as if it had been 
 their parent. To enter into the philosophy of this 
 subject, and to study the organs and faculties of these 
 various insect tribes, in their function of respiration, 
 nutrition, and reproduction, would be sufficient for 
 the labour of a life. To know what has already been 
 done would demand the close and studious application 
 of a comprehensive mind; and to complete this 
 branch of science in all its parts is probably almost 
 above human powers; but much might be done if 
 enlightened persons would follow the example of 
 De Geer, Eeaumur, and Huber, and study minutely 
 the habits of particular tribes; and it is probable, 
 that physiology might be much advanced by minutely 
 investigating the simplest forms of living beings, and 
 that particularly with respect to the functions of 
 generation; a minute study of the modifications of 
 which the forms of animals seem susceptible, particu- 
 
218 SALMON! A. [eighth day. 
 
 larly in the hymenopterous, or bee tribe, might lead 
 to very important results. 
 
 POIET. — Even in a moral point of view, I think 
 the analogies derived from the transformation of 
 insects admit of some beautiful applications, that 
 have not been neglected by pious entomologists. 
 The three states of the caterpillar, pupa or aurelia, 
 and butterfly, have, since the time of the Greek poets, 
 been appHed to typify the human being — its terrestrial 
 form, apparent death, and ultimate celestial destination; 
 and it seems more extraordinary that a sordid and 
 crawling worm should become a beautiful and active 
 fly — that an inhabitant of the dark and fetid dung- 
 hill should in an instant entirely change its form, 
 rise into the blue air, and enjoy the sunbeams,— than 
 tliat a being, whose pursuits here have been after an 
 undying name, and whose purest happiness has been 
 derived from the acquisition of intellectual power 
 and finite knowledge, should rise hereafter into a 
 state of being, where immortality is no longer a 
 name, and ascend to the source of Unbounded Power 
 and Infinite Wisdom. 
 
 PHYS. — I have been listening, Halieus, to your 
 account of water-flies with attention, and I only 
 regret, that your details were not more copious. Let 
 me now call your attention to that Michaelmas daisy ; 
 a few minutes ago, before the sun sunk behind the 
 
EIGHTH DAY.j TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS. 219 
 
 hill, its flowers were covered with varieties of bees, 
 and some wasps, all busy in feeding on its sweets. I 
 never saw a more animated scene of insect enjoyment. 
 The bees were most of them humble bees, some new 
 to me, and the wasps appeared different from any 1 
 have seen before. 
 
 HAL. — I believe this is one of the last autumnal 
 flowers that insects of this kind haunt. In sunny 
 days it is their constant point of resort, and it would 
 afiord a good opportunity to the entomologist to make 
 a collection of British bees. 
 
 POIET. — I neither hear the hum of the bee, nor 
 can I see any on its flowers. They are now deserted. 
 
 PHTS. — Since the sun has disappeared, the cool of 
 the evening has, I suppose, driven the little winged 
 plunderers to their homes. But see, there are two or 
 three humble bees which seem languid with the cold, 
 and yet they have their tongues still in the fountain 
 of honey ; I believe one of them is actually dead, yet 
 his mouth is still attached to the flower. He has 
 fallen asleep, and probably died wliilst making his 
 last meal of ambrosia. 
 
 ORN. — What an enviable destiny, quitting life in 
 the moment of enjoyment, following an instinct, the 
 gratification of which has been always pleasurable ! so 
 beneficent are all the laws of Divine Wisdom. 
 
 PHYS. — Like Ornither, I consider the destiny of 
 
220 8ALM0NIA. [eighth day. 
 
 this insect as desirable, and I cannot help regarding 
 the end of human life as most happy, when termi- 
 nated under the impulse of some strong energetic 
 feeling, similar in its nature to an instinct. I should 
 not wish to die like Attila in a moment of gross 
 sensual enjoyment : but the death of Epaminondas or 
 Nelson in the arms of victory, their whole attention 
 absorbed in the love of glory and of their country, I 
 think really enviable. 
 
 POIET. — I consider the death of the martyr or the 
 saint as far more enviable ; for in this case, what may 
 be considered as a divine instinct of our nature, is 
 called into exertion, and pain is subdued, or destroyed 
 by a secure faith in the power and mercy of the 
 Divinity. In such cases man rises above mortahty, 
 and shows his true intellectual superiority. By in- 
 tellectual superiority I mean that of his spiritual 
 nature, for I do not consider the results of reason as 
 capable of being compared with those of faith. 
 Eeason is often a dead weight in life, destroying 
 feeling, and substituting, for principle, calculation 
 and caution; and, in the hour of death, it often 
 produces fear or despondency, and is rather a bitter 
 draught than nectar or ambrosia in the last meal 
 ofHfe. 
 
 HAL. — I agree with Poietes. The higher and more 
 intense the feeling, under which death takes place 
 
EIGHTH DAY.] REFLECTIONS ON DEATH. 221 
 
 the happier it may be esteemed; and I think even 
 Physicus will be of our opinion^ when I recollect the 
 conclusion of a conversation in Scotland. The 
 immortal being never can quit life with so mucli 
 pleasure as with the feeling of immortality secure, 
 and the vision of celestial glory filling the mind, 
 affected by no other passion than the pure and 
 intense love of God. 
 
4-;^^ 
 
 NINTH DAY 
 IIALIEUS--POIETES—ORNITHER—PHYSICUS. 
 
 FISHING FOR HUCHO. 
 
 Scene— 57ie Fall of the Traun, Vjpjper Austria. 
 
 Time — July. 
 
 POIET. — This is a glorious scene ! And the fall of 
 this great and clear river, with its accompaniments of 
 wood, rock, and snow-clad mountain, would alone 
 
NINTH DAY.] FISIIUSTO FOB HUCHO. 223 
 
 furnish matter for discussion and conversation for 
 many days. This place is quite the paradise of a 
 poetical angler; the only danger is that of satiety 
 with regard to sport; for these great grayhng and 
 trout are so little used to the artificial fly, that they 
 take almost any thing moving on the top of the water. 
 You see I have put on a salmon fly, and still they rise 
 at it, though they never can have seen any thing like 
 it before — and it is, in fact, not like any thing in 
 nature. 
 
 HAL. — You are right, they have never seen any 
 thing like it before; but, in its motion, it is like a 
 large fly, and this is the season for large flies. The 
 stone fly and the May fly, you see, occasionally drop 
 upon the water, and the colour of your large fly is not 
 unhke that of the stone fly ; but if, instead of being 
 here in the beginning of July, you had visited this 
 spot, as I once did, in the beginning of June, you 
 would have found more difliculty in catching grayling 
 here, though not so much as in our English rivers — 
 in the Test, the Derwent, or the Dove. 
 
 POlET.^YLow could this be ? 
 
 HAL. — At this season the large flies had not yet 
 appeared ; the small blue dun was on the water, and 
 I was obliged to use a fly the same as that which 
 suits our spring and late autumnal fishing. The fish 
 refused all large flies, but took greedily small ones; 
 
224 SALMONIA, 
 
 and, as usually happens when small flies are used, 
 more fish escaped after being hooked than were taken ; 
 and these I found, the next day, were become as 
 sagacious as our Dove or Test fish, and refused the 
 artificial fly, though they greedily took the natural 
 
 fly- 
 
 PHYS. — ^These fish, then, have the same habits 
 as our Enghsh salmons and trouts ? 
 
 HAL. — The principle to which I have referred in 
 two former conversations must be general, though it 
 has seemed to me, that they lost this memory sooner 
 than the fish of our English rivers, where fly-fishing 
 is common. This, however, may be fancy, yet I have 
 referred it to a kind of hereditary disposition, 
 which has been formed and transmitted from then- 
 progenitors. 
 
 PHYS. — However strange it may appear, I can 
 believe tliis. When the early voyagers discovered 
 new islands, the birds upon them were quite tame, 
 and easily killed by sticks and stones, being fearless 
 of man ; but they soon learned to know their enemy, 
 and this newly acquired sagacity was possessed by 
 their offspring, who had never seen a man. Wild 
 and domesticated ducks are, in fact, from the same 
 original type : it is only necessary to compare them, 
 when hatched together under a hen, to be convinced 
 of the principle of the hereditary transmission of 
 
NiNrH DAY.] HEREDITARY INSTINCT, 225 
 
 habits^ — the wild young ones instantly fly from man, 
 the tame ones are indifferent to his presence. 
 
 POIET. — No one can be less disposed than 1 am 
 to limit the powers of living nature, or to doubt 
 the capabilities of organised structures; but it 
 does appear to me quite a dream, to suppose that a 
 fish, pricked by the hook of the artificial fly, 
 should transmit a dread of it to its offspring, though 
 he does not even long retain the memory of it 
 himself. 
 
 HAL. — ^There are instances quite as extraordinary ; 
 — but I will not dwell upon them, as I am not quite 
 sure of the fact which we are discussing ; I have made 
 a guess only, and we must observe more minutely to 
 establish it ; it may be even as you suppose — a mere 
 dream. 
 
 POIET, — I shall go and look at the fall : I am 
 really satiated with sport ; this is the twentieth fish I 
 have taken in an hour, and it is a grayling of at least 
 seventeen inches long ; and there is a trout of eighteen, 
 and several salmon trout, which look as if they had 
 run from the sea. 
 
 HAL. — These salmon trout have run from a sea, 
 but not from a salt sea ; they are fish of the Traun 
 See, as it is called by the Germans, or Traun Lake, 
 which is emptied by this river. 
 
 PHTS, — ^Tell us why they are so different from the 
 
 9. 
 
226 SALMONIA. [ninth day. 
 
 river trout, or why there should be two species or 
 varieties in the same water. 
 
 HAL. — Your question is a difficult one, and it has 
 already been referred to in a former conversation; 
 but I shall repeat what I stated before, — that qualities 
 occasioned by food, peculiarities of water, &c. are 
 transmitted to the offspring, and produce varieties 
 which retain their characters as long as they are 
 exposed to the same circumstances, and only slowly 
 lose them. Plenty of good food gives a silvery colour 
 and round form to fish, and the offspring retain these 
 characters. Peeding much on larvae and on shell- 
 fish thickens the stomach, and gives a brighter yellow 
 to the belly and fins, which become hereditary 
 characters. Even these smallest salmon trout have 
 green backs, black spots onl^, and silvery bellies ; from 
 w^hich it is evident, that they are the offspring of the 
 lake trout, or lacks forelle, as it is called by the 
 Germans ; whilst the river trout, even when 4 or 51bs., 
 as w^e see in one of these fish, though in excellent 
 season, have red spots. — But w^hy that exclamation ? 
 
 POIET. — What an immense fish ! There he is ! 
 
 HAL. — I see nothing. 
 
 POIET, — At the edge of the pool, below the fall, I 
 saw a fish, at least two or three feet long, rising with 
 great violence in the water, as if in the pursuit of 
 small fish ; and at the same time I saw tw^o or three 
 
KiNTH DAY.l SALMO HUCHO. 227 
 
 minnows or bleaks jump out of the water. What 
 fish is it ? — a trout ? It appeared to me too long and 
 too slender for a trout, and had more the character of 
 a pike ; — yet it followed, and did not, like a pike, make 
 a single dart. 
 
 EAL. — I see him : it is neither a pike nor a trout, 
 but a fish which I have been some time hoping and 
 expecting to see here, below the fall — a salmo hucTiOy 
 or Imchen, I am delighted that you have an 
 opportunity of seeing this curious fish and of 
 observing his habits. I hope we shall catch him. 
 
 POIET. — Catch him! we have no tackle strong 
 enough. 
 
 HAL, — I am surprised to hear a salmon fisher talk 
 so : yet he is too large to take a fly, and must be 
 trolled for. We must spin a bleak for liim, or small 
 fish, as we do for the trout of the Thames or the 
 salmon of the Tay. Ornither, you understand the 
 arrangement of this kind of tackle — look out in my 
 book the strongest set of spinning hooks you can find, 
 and supply them with a bleak; and Avhilst I am 
 changing the reel, I will give you all the information 
 (which, I am sorry to say, is not much) that I have 
 been able to collect respecting this fish from my own 
 observation or the experience of others. The hucho 
 is the most predatory fish of the salmo genus, and is 
 made like an ill-fed trout, but longer and thicker. 
 
 q2 
 
228 SALMON 1 A. [ninth day. 
 
 He has larger teeth, more spines in the pectoral fin, a 
 thicker skin, a silvery belly, and dark spots only on 
 the back and sides, — I have never seen any on the 
 fins. The ratio of his length to his girth is as 8 to 1 8, 
 or, in well-fed fish, as 9 to 20 ; and a fish, 18 inches 
 long by 8 in girth, weighed 16,215 grains. Another, 
 2 feet long, 11 inches in girth, and 3 inches thick, 
 weighed 41bs. 2Joz. Another, 26 inches long, 
 weighed 51bs. 5oz. Of the spines in the fins, the 
 anal has 9, the caudal 20, the ventral 9, the dorsal 
 12, the pectoral 17 : having numbered the spines 
 in many, I give this as correct. The fleshy fin 
 belonging to the genus is, I think, larger in this 
 species than in any I have seen. Bloch, in his work on 
 fishes, states that there are black spots on all the fins, 
 with the exception of the anal, as a character of this 
 fis]i : and Professor Wagner informs me he has seen 
 huchos with this peculiarity ; but, as I said before, I 
 never saw any fish with spotted fins, — ^yet I have exa- 
 mined those of the Danube, Save, Drave, Mur, and 
 Isar ; perhaps this is peculiar to some stream in 
 Bavaria — yet the huchos in the collection at Munich 
 have it not. The hucho is found in most rivers 
 tributary to the Danube — in the Save and Laybach 
 rivers always ; yet the general opinion is that they run 
 from the Danube twice a year, in spring and autumn. 
 I can answer for their migration in spring, having 
 
NINTH DAY.] SALMO HUCHO. 229 
 
 caught several in April, in streams connected with the 
 Save and Laybach rivers, which had evidently come 
 from the still dead water into the clear running streams, 
 for they had the winter leech, or louse of the trout, 
 upon them : and I have seen them of all sizes, in 
 April, in the market at Laybach, from six inches to 
 two feet long ; but they are found much larger, and 
 reach 30, or even 40, pounds. It is the opinion of 
 some naturalists, that it is onli/ a fresh water fish ; yet 
 this I doubt, because it is never found beyond certain 
 falls — as in the Traun, the Drave, and the Save ; and, 
 there can be no doubt, comes into these rivers from 
 the Danube; and probably, in its largest state, is a 
 fish of the Black Sea."^ Yet it can winter in fresh 
 water ; and does not seem, like the salmon, obliged to 
 haunt the sea, but falls back into the warmer waters 
 of the great rivers, from which it migrates in spring, 
 to seek a cooler temperature and to breed. The 
 fishermen at Gratz say they spawn in the Mur, between 
 March and May. In those I have caught at Laybach, 
 which, however, were small ones, the ova were not 
 sufficiently developed to admit of their spawning that 
 
 [*During a residence of nine months in Constantinople, often visiting 
 the fish-market in person, and making inquiry of persons most likely to 
 give accurate information, I could not learn that the hucho had ever 
 'v?een seen there, — leading to the inference that it is unknown in the 
 Black Sea, — from whence the Turkish capital is in part supplied with 
 fish.— J. D.] 
 
230 SALMONIA. [xiyrn DAT. 
 
 spring. Marsigli says, that they spawn in the Danube 
 in June. You have seen how violently they pursue 
 their prey : I have never taken one without fish in liis 
 stomach ; yet, when small, they will take a fly. In 
 the Kleingraben, which is a feeder to the Laybach 
 river, and where they are found of all sizes — from 
 201bs. downwards — the little ones take a fly, l)ut the 
 large ones are too ravenous to care about so insigni- 
 ficant a morsel, and prey like the largest trout, often 
 hunting in company, and chasing the small fish into 
 the narrow and shallow streams, and then devouring 
 them. — But I see your tackle is ready. As a more 
 experienced angler in this kind of fishing, you will 
 allow me to try my fortune with this fish, I still see 
 liim feeding ; but I must keep out of sight, for he has 
 all the timidity peculiar to the salmo genus, and, if 
 he catch sight of me, will certainly not run at the bait. 
 
 ORN. — ^You spin the bleak for him, I see, as for a 
 great trout. ! there ! he has run at it — and you 
 have missed him. ^Vliat a fish ! You surely were too 
 quick, for he sprung out of the water at the bleak. 
 
 HAL. — I was not too quick ; but he rose just as the 
 bleak was on the surface, and saw me ; and now he 
 is frightened, and gone down into the deep water. 
 We must retire till we see him feeding again, wliich 
 will be, I hope, in a few minutes, for liis violence 
 shows he is not yet satisfied. 
 
KINTH DAY.] 
 
 TAKING A SALMO HUCHO. 
 
 231 
 
 POIET. — I think I saw him moving in another part 
 of the pool ; it is now ten minutes since we saw him last. 
 
 HAL. — You are right; he is again on the feed, 
 and in a place where we have a better chance of 
 hooking him, as the water is deeper and in the shade. 
 He has run again at the bleak, but only as it shone 
 on the surface — but he is not frightened. Ah ! he 
 has taken it, and is floundering and struggling. He 
 is a powerful fish. 
 
 ORN. — He fights well, and runs towards the side 
 where the rock is. 
 
 HAL. — Take the net and frighten him from that 
 place, which is the only one where there is danger 
 of losing him. He is clear now, and begins to tire, 
 and in a few minutes more he will be exhausted. 
 Now land him. 
 
 POIET. — A noble fish. But how like a trout ! — 
 exactly like a sea trout in whiteness, and I think in 
 spots. 
 
SA LMONIA . [ NINTH DAY. 
 
 HAL. — He is much narrower or less broad, as you 
 would immediately discover, if you had a sea trout 
 here. But now we must try another pool, or the 
 tail of this; that fish was not alone, and at the 
 moment he took the bait — I think I saw the water 
 move from the stir of another. Take your rod and 
 fit your own tackle, Ornither; half the glory of 
 catching this fish is yours, as you prepared the hooks. 
 I see you are in earnest ; the blood mounts in your 
 face. Oh ! ho ! Ornither, you have pulled with too 
 much violence, and broken your tackle. Alas ! alas ! 
 the fish you hooked was the consort of mine ; he will 
 not take again. 
 
 ORN. — ^The gut was bad, for I do not think I 
 struck too violently. What a loss ! How hard, to 
 let the first fish of the kind I ever angled for escape 
 me ! 
 
 HAL. — There are probably more ; try again. 
 
 ORN. — Behold, the loss was more owing to the 
 imperfection of the tackle than to my ardour; for 
 the two end hooks only are gone, and you may see 
 the gut worn. 
 
 HAL. — The thing is done, and is not worth 
 comment. If you can, let the next fish that rises 
 hook himself. When we are ardent, we are bad 
 judges of the effort we make ; and an angler who 
 could be cool with a new species of salmo, I should 
 
KiNTH DAY.] SALMO HUCHO. 233 
 
 not envj. Now all is right again ; try that pool. 
 There is a fish — ay ! and another, that runs at your 
 bait; but they are small ones, not much more than 
 t)?^dce as large as the bleak ; yet they show their spirit, 
 and though they cannot swallow it, they have torn it. 
 Put on another bleak. There, you have another run. 
 
 ORN. — Ay, it is a small fish, not much more than 
 a foot long ; yet he fights well. 
 
 HAL, — You have him, and I will land him. I do 
 not think such a fish a bad initiation into this kind 
 of sport. He does not agitate so much as a larger 
 one, and yet gratifies curiosity. There, we have him. 
 A very beautiful fish ; yet he has the leech, or louse, 
 though his belly is quite wliite. 
 
 ORN, — This fish is so like a trout, that, had 1 
 caught him when alone, I should hardly have remarked 
 his peculiarities ; and T am not convinced, that it is 
 not a variety of the common trout, altered in many 
 generations, by the predatory habits of his ancestors. 
 
 HAL. — How far the principle of change of 
 character and transmission of such character to the 
 offspring will apply, I sh^U not attempt to determine, 
 and whether all the varieties of the salmo with teeth 
 in their mouth may not have been produced from one 
 original; yet this fish is now as distinct from the 
 trout, as the charr or the umbla is ; and in Europe, it 
 exists only below great falls in streams connected 
 
284 8ALM0NIA, [ninth day. 
 
 with the Danube, and is never found in rivers of the 
 same districts connected with the Ehine, or Elbe, or 
 in any of them which empty themselves into the 
 Mediterranean ; though trout are common in all these 
 streams, and salmon and sea trout in those connected 
 with the ocean. According to the descriptions of 
 Pallas, it occurs in the rivers of Siberia, and probably 
 exists in those which run into the Caspian ; and it is 
 remarkable, that it is not found where the eel is usual — 
 at least this applies to all the tributary streams of the 
 Danube, and, it is said, to the rivers of Siberia. 
 Wherever I have seen it, there have been always 
 coarse fish — as chub, white fish, bleak, &c., and 
 rivers containing such fish are its natural haunts, for 
 it requires abundance of food, and serves to convert 
 these indifferent poor fish into a better kind of 
 nourishment for man. We will now examine the 
 interior of these fish. You see the stomach is larger 
 than that of a trout, and the stomachs of both are 
 full of small fish. In the larger one there is a chub, 
 a grayling, a bleak, and two or three small carp. 
 The skin you see is thick ; the scales are smaller than 
 those of a trout ; it has no teeth on the palate, and 
 the pectoral fin has four spines more, which, I think, 
 enables it to turn with more rapidity. You will find 
 at dinner, that, fried or roasted, he is a good fish. 
 His flesh is white, but not devoid of curd; and 
 
NINTH DAY.] 8ALM0 HUCHO, 235 
 
 though rather softer than that of a trout, I have 
 never observed in it that muddiness, or peculiar 
 flavour, which sometimes occurs in trout, even when 
 in perfect season. 
 
 I shall say a few words more on the habits of this 
 fish. The hucho, as you have seen, preys with great 
 violence, and pursues his object as a foxhound or a 
 greyhound does. I have seen them in repose : they 
 lie like pikes, perfectly still, and I have watched one 
 for many minutes, that never moved at all. In this 
 respect their habits resemble those of most carnivorous 
 and predatory animals. It is probably in consequence 
 of these habits, that they are so much infested by 
 lice, or leeches, which I have seen so numerous in 
 spring as almost to fill their gills, and interfere with 
 their respiration ; in which case they seek the most 
 rapid and turbulent streams to free themselves from 
 these enemies. They are very shy, and after being 
 hooked avoid the baited line. I once saw a hucho, 
 for which I was fishing, follow the small fish, and 
 then the lead of the tackle ; it seemed as if this had 
 fixed his attention, and he never offered at the bait 
 afterwards. I think a hucho, that has been pricked 
 by the hook, becomes particularly cautious, and 
 possesses, in this respect, the same character as the 
 salmon. In summer, when they are found in the 
 roughest and most violent currents, their fins 
 
236 SALMONIA. 
 
 (particularly the caudal fin) often appear worn and 
 broken ; at this season they are usually in constant 
 motion against the stream, and are stopped by no 
 cataract or dam, unless it be many feet in height, and 
 quite inaccessible. In the middle of September I 
 have caught huchos perfectly clean in rapid cool 
 streams, tributary to the Laybach and the Sava 
 rivers; and, from the small development of their 
 generative system at this time, I have no doubt that 
 they spawn in spring. On the 13th of September, 
 1828, I caught, by spinning the dead small fish, 
 three huchos, that had not a single leech upon their 
 bodies, and they were the first fish of the kind I ever 
 saw free from these parasites. 
 
 ORN. — I am so much pleased with my good fortune 
 in catching this fish, that I shall try all day to-morrow 
 with the bait, for more of the same kind. 
 
 HAL. — You may do so ; but many of these fish 
 cannot be caught ; they migrate generally when the 
 water is foul, and, except in the spring and autumn, 
 do not so readily run at the bait. I was once nearly 
 a month seeking for one in rivers in wliich they are 
 found, between the end of June and that of July, 
 without being able to succeed in even seeing one alive ; 
 and as far as my information goes, the two places 
 where there is most probability of taking them, are at 
 Laybach and Eatisbon, in the tributary streams to the 
 
NINTH DAY.J ANGLING. 287 
 
 Sava, and in the Danube ; and the best time, in the 
 first of these situations, is in March and April, and 
 in the second, in May. I am told, likewise, that the 
 Isar, which runs by Munich, is a stream where they 
 may be caught, when the water is clear : but I have 
 never fished in this stream — it having been foul, 
 either from rain or the melting of the snows, 
 whenever I have been at Munich ; but I have seen in 
 the fish-market at Munich very large huchos. Late 
 in the autunm, or in early spring, this river must be 
 an interesting one to fish in, as the schiel, or perca 
 lucio percaj and three other species ofperca are found 
 in it — the zingel, Tapron, and the perca schratz — 
 all fish of prey, and excellent food. I have eaten 
 them, but never taken them; they are rare in 
 European rivers, though not, like the hucho, peculiar 
 to the tributary streams of the Danube. The schiel 
 is found likewise in the Spree and in the Hungarian 
 lakes, and, according to Bloch, the zingel in the 
 Ehone. 
 
 POIET. — I should like extremely to fish in the 
 Isar : it is, I think, a new kind of pleasure to take a 
 new kind of fish, even though it is not unknown to 
 Natural Historians. But the most exquisite kind of 
 angling, in my opinion, would be that of angling in 
 a river never fished in by Europeans before ; and I 
 can scarcely imagine sport of a higher kind than that 
 
238 SALMONIA, [ninth day. 
 
 which involves a triple source of pleasure — catching 
 a fish^ procuring good food for the table, and 
 making a discovery in Natural History, at the 
 same time. Sir Joseph Banks, who was always a 
 great amateur of angling, had often this kind of 
 gratification. And to Captain Pranklin and Dr. 
 Richardson, in their expedition to the Arctic Ocean, 
 when they were almost starving, what a delightful 
 circamstance it must have been, to have taken with a 
 fly those large grayling, which they mention, of a n<^w 
 species, equally beautiful in their appearance, and 
 good for the table ! 
 
 HAL, — When a boy, I have felt an interest in sea 
 fishing, for this reason — that there was a variety of 
 fish; but the want of skill in the amusement — 
 sinking a bait with a lead and pulling up a fish by 
 main force, soon made me tired of it. Since I have 
 been a fly-fisher, I have rarely fished in the sea, and 
 then only with a reel and fine tackle from the rocks, 
 which is at least as interesting an amusement as that 
 of the Cockney fishermen, who fish for roach and dace 
 in the Thames, which I have tried twice in my life, 
 but shall never try again. 
 
 PETS. — Y«u are severe on Cockney fishermen, and, 
 I suppose, would apply to them only, the observation 
 of Dr. Johnson, which on a former occasion you 
 would not allow to be just : ^^ Angling is an 
 
NIKTHDAY] AJ^GLING. 239 
 
 amusement with a stick and a string ; a worm at one 
 end, and a fool at the other/' And to yourself you 
 would apply it with this change : " a fly at one end, 
 and a philosopher at the other/' Yet the pleasure of 
 the Cockney angler appears to me of much the same 
 kind, and perhaps more continuous than yours ; and 
 he has the happiness of constant occupation and 
 perpetual pursuit in as high a degree as you have; 
 and if we were to look at the real foundations of your 
 pleasure, we should find them, like most of the 
 foundations of human happiness — vanity or folly. I 
 shall never forget the impression made upon me some 
 years ago, when I was standing on the pier at 
 Donegal, watching the flowing of the tide : I saw a 
 lame boy of fourteen or fifteen years old, very 
 slightly clad, whom some persons were attempting to 
 stop in his progress along the pier ; but he resisted 
 them with his crutches, and, halting along, threw 
 himself from an elevation of five or six feet, with his 
 crutches, and a little parcel of wooden boats, that he 
 carried under his arm, on the sand of the beach. He 
 had to scramble or halt at least 100 yards, over hard 
 rocks, before he reached the water, and he several 
 times fell down and cut his naked limbs on the bare 
 stones. Being in the water, he seemed in an ecstasy, 
 and immediately put his boats in sailing order, and 
 was perfectly inattentive to the counsel and warning 
 
'240 SALMONIA. [ninth day. 
 
 of the spectators^ who shouted to him, that he would 
 be drowned. His whole attention was absorbed by 
 his boats. He had formed an idea, that one should 
 outsail the rest, and when this boat was foremost he 
 was in delight; but if any one of the others got 
 beyond it he howled with grief; and once I saw him 
 throw his crutch at one of the unfavoured boats. 
 The tide came in rapidly — ^lie lost his crutches, and 
 would have been drowned, but for the care of some of 
 the spectators : he was however wholly inattentive to 
 any thing save his boats. He is said to be quite 
 insane and perfectly ungovernable, and wiU not live 
 in a house, or wear any clothes, and his whole life is 
 spent in this one business — making and managing a 
 fleet of wooden boats, of which he is sole admiral. 
 How near this mad youth is to a genius, a hero, or 
 to an angler, who injures his health and risks his Hfe 
 by going into the water as high as his middle, in the 
 hope of catching a fish which he sees rise, though he 
 already has a pannier full. 
 
 HAL. — Or a statesman, working by all means, fair 
 and foul, to obtain a blue riband. Or a fox-hunter, 
 risking his neck to see the hounds destroy an animal, 
 which he preserves to be destroyed, and which is 
 good for nothing. Or an aged, licentious voluptuary, 
 using all the powers of a high and cultivated intellect 
 to destroy the innocence of a beautiful virgin, for a 
 
NINTH DAT.] AMUSEMENTS. 241 
 
 transient gratification to render lier miserable, and 
 by making a flaw in an inestimable and brilliant gem, 
 utterly to destroy its value. ' 
 
 PHYS.—You might go on and cite almost all the 
 objects of pursuit of rational beings, as, by distinction, 
 they are called. But to return to your favourite 
 amusement. I wonder that, with such a passion for 
 angUng, you have never made an expedition in one 
 of our whalers — with Captain Scoresby for instance ; 
 you would then have enjoyed sport of a new kind. 
 
 HAL. — I should like much to see a whale taken, 
 but I do not think the sight worth the dangers and 
 privations of such a voyage. It would only be an 
 amusing spectacle and not an enterprise, unless, 
 indeed, I myself employed the harpoon ; and after all 
 it must be a tedious operation, that of watching the 
 sinking and rising of a fish obedient to a natural 
 instinct, which, in tliis instance, is the cause of his 
 death. 
 
 POIET. — How ? 
 
 HAL. — The whale, having no air bladder, can sink 
 to the lowest depths of the ocean : and, mistaking 
 the harpoon for the teeth of a sword fish or a shark, 
 he instantly descends, this being his manner of 
 freeing himself from these enemies, who cannot bear 
 the pressure of a deep ocean, and from ascending and 
 descending . in small space, he puts himself in the 
 
242 SALMON! A, [xinth day. 
 
 power of the whaler -, whereas, if he knew his force, 
 and were to swim on the surface in a straight line, he 
 would break or destroy the machinery by which he is 
 arrested, as easily as a salmon breaks the single gut 
 of a fisher when liis reel is entangled. 
 
 POIET. — My amusement in such a voyage, would 
 be to look for the kraken and the sea snake. 
 
 HAL. — You have a vivid imagination, and might 
 see them. 
 
 POIET. — Then you do not believe in the existence 
 of these wonderful animals ? 
 
 HAL. — No more than I do in that of the merman, 
 or mermaid. 
 
 POIET. — Yet we have histories which seem authentic, 
 of the appearance of these monsters, and there are 
 not wanting persons who assert, that they have seen 
 the mermaid even in these islands. 
 
 HAL. — I disbelieve the authenticity of these stories. 
 I do not mean to deny the existence of large marine 
 animals having analogies to the serpent; the conger 
 we know is such an animal : I have seen one nearly 
 ten feet long, and there may be longer ones, but such 
 animals do not come to the surface. The only sea 
 snake, that has been examined by naturalists, turned 
 out to be a putrid species of shark — ^the squalm 
 maximns. Yet all the newspapers gave accounts of 
 this as a real animal, and endo^yed it with feet^ w^hich 
 
mr.Tn day.] KB A KEN.—MEBMA ID. 243 
 
 do not belong to serpents. And the sea snakes, 
 seen by American and Norwegian captains, have, 
 T think, generally been a company of porpoises, the 
 rising and sinking of which in lines wonld give 
 somewhat the appearance of the coils of a snake. 
 The kraken, or island-fish, is still more imaginary. 
 I have myself seen immense numbers of enormous 
 urticce marina, or blubbers, in the north seas, and 
 in some of the Norwegian fiords , or inland bays, and 
 often these beautiful creatures g-ive colour to the 
 water; but it is exceedingly improbable, that an 
 animal of this genus should ever be of the size, even 
 of the whale ; its soft materials are little fitted for 
 locomotion, and would be easily destroyed by every 
 kind of fish. Hands and a finny tail, are entirely 
 contrary to the analogy of nature, and 1 disbeheve 
 the mermaid upon philosophical principles. The 
 dugong and manatee are the only animals combining 
 the functions of the mammalia with some of the 
 characters of fishes, that can be imagined, even as a 
 link, in this part of the order of nature. Many of 
 these stories have been founded upon the long-haired 
 seal seen at a distance ; others on the appearance of 
 the common seal under particular circumstances of 
 light and shade, and some on still more singular 
 circumstances. A worthy baronet, remarkable for 
 liis benevolent views and active spirit, has propagated 
 
 R 2 
 
244 8ALM0NIA, [ninth day. 
 
 a story of this kind, and lie seems to claim for his 
 native country the honour of possessing this extraor- 
 dinary animal; but the mermaid of Caithness was 
 certainly a gentlemun, who, happened to be travelling 
 on that wild shore, and who was seen bathing by 
 some young ladies at so great a distance, that not 
 only genus but gender was mistaken. I am acquainted 
 with him, and have had the story from his own 
 mouth. He is a young man fond of geological 
 pursuits, and one day in the middle of August, 
 having fatigued and heated himself by climbing a 
 rock, to examine a particular appearance of granite, 
 he gave liis clothes to his Highland guide, who was 
 taking care of liis pony, and descended to the sea. 
 The sun was just setting, and he amused himself for 
 some time by smmming from rock to rock, and 
 having unclipt hair and no cap, he sometimes threw 
 aside his locks, and wrung the water from them on 
 the rocks. He happened the year after to be at 
 Harrowgate, and was sitting at table with two young 
 ladies from Caithness, who were relating to a wonder- 
 ing audience the story of the mermaid they had seen, 
 which had already been published in the newspapers. 
 They described her as she usually is described by 
 poets, as a beautiful animal, with a remarkably fair 
 skin and long green hair. The young gentleman 
 took the liberty, as most of the rest of the company 
 
NINTH DAY.] MERMAID. 245 
 
 did, to put a few questions to the elder of the two 
 ladies — such as, on what day, and precisely where 
 this singular phenomenon had appeared. She had 
 noted down, not merely the day, but the hour and 
 minute, and produced a map of the place. Oar 
 bather referred to his journal, and showed that a 
 human animal was swimming in the very spot at that 
 very time, who had some of the characters ascribed 
 to the mermaid, but who laid no claim to others, 
 particularly the green hair and fish's tail ; but being 
 rather sallow in the face, was glad to have such 
 testimony to the colour of his body beneath his 
 garments. 
 
 POIET. — But I do not understand upon what 
 philosophical principles you deny the existence of the 
 mermaid. We are not necessarily acquainted with 
 all the animals that inhabit the bottom of the sea; 
 and I cannot help thinking there must have been 
 some foundation for the fable of the Tritons and 
 Nereids. 
 
 HAL. — Ay; and of the ocean divinities, Neptune 
 and Amphitrite ! 
 
 POIET. — Now I tliink you are prejudiced. 
 
 HAL. — I remember the worthy baronet, whom I 
 just now mentioned, on some one praising the late 
 Sir Joseph Banks very highly, said, ^^ Sir Joseph was 
 an excellent man — but he had his prejudices."'^ 
 
246 8ALM0NIA, [xixth day. 
 
 What were they? said my friend. '^Why, he did 
 not beheve in the mermaid/^ Pray still consider me 
 as the baronet did Sir Joseph — prejudiced on this 
 subject. 
 
 ORN. — But" give us some reasons for the impos- 
 sibility of the existence of this animal. 
 
 HAL. — Nay^ I did not say impossibility ; I am too 
 much of the school of Izaac Walton to talk of 
 impossibility. It doubtless might please God to 
 make a mermaid ; but I do not believe God ever did 
 make one. 
 
 OiJiV.— And why ? 
 
 HAL — Because wisdom and order are found in all 
 his works^ and the parts of animals are always in 
 harmony with each other^ and always adapted to 
 certain ends consistent with the analogy of nature ; 
 and a lumian head^ human hands, and human 
 mammse, are wholly inconsistent with a fishes tail. 
 The human head is adapted for an erect posture, and 
 in such a posture an animal with a fishes tail could 
 not swim ; and a creature with lungs must be on the 
 surface several times in a day — and the sea is an 
 inconvenient breathing place j and hands are instru- 
 ments of manufacture — and the depths of the ocean 
 are little fitted for fabricating that mirror which our 
 old prints gave to the mermaid. Such an animal, if 
 created, could not long exist ; and, with scarcely 
 
KiNTH DAY.] MERMAID. 247 
 
 any locomotive powers, would be the prey of other 
 fishes, formed in a manner more suited to their 
 element. I have seen a most absurd fabrication of a 
 mermaid, exposed as a show in London, said to have 
 been found in the Chinese seas, and bought for a 
 large sum of money. The head and bust of two 
 different apes were fastened to the lower part of a 
 kipper salmon, which had the fleshy fin, and all the 
 distinct characters, of the salmo salar. 
 
 ORN. — And yet there were people who believed 
 this to be a real animal. 
 
 HAL. — It was insisted on, to prove the truth of 
 the Caithness story. Bat what is there which people 
 will not believe ? 
 
 POIET. — In listening to your conversation we have 
 forgotten our angling, and have lost some moments of 
 fine cloudy weather. 
 
 HAL. — I thought you were tired of catching trouts 
 and graylings, and I therefore did not urge you to 
 continue your fly-fishing ; and this part of the river 
 does not contain so many grayling as the pools above 
 — ^but there are good trout, and it is possible there 
 may be huchos. Let me recommend to you to put on 
 minnow tackle — that tackle with the five small hooks j 
 and, as we have minnows and bleaks, you may 
 perhaps hook trout, or even huchos ; and in haK an 
 hour our fish dinner at the inn will be ready. I 
 
248 SALMON! A. [ninth day. 
 
 shall return there, to see that all is right, and shall 
 expect jou when you have finished your fishing. 
 
 [TJiey all Toeet in the dining-room of the irm.] 
 
 HAL. — ^Well, what sort of sport have you had since 
 I left you ? 
 
 POIET, — We have each caught a trout and two large 
 chubs, and have had two or three runs besides — but 
 we saw no huchos ; and though several large grayling 
 rose in one of the streams, and we tried to catch them 
 by spinning the minnow in every possible way, yet 
 they took no notice of our bait. 
 
 HAL. — Tliis is usually the case. I have heard of 
 anglers who have taken grayling with minnows, but 
 it is a rare occurrence, and never happened to me. 
 Your dinner, I dare say, is now ready ; and you 
 know it is a dinner entirely of the genus salmOy with 
 vegetables and fruit. You have hucho from the 
 Traun, and charr from Aussee, and trout from the 
 Traun See, that were brought ahve to the inn, and 
 have only just been killed and crimped, and are now 
 boiling in salt and water ; and you have likewise 
 grayling and laverets from the Traun See, which are 
 equally fresh, and will be fried. 
 
 PETS. — I tliink, in this part of the continent, 
 the art of carrying and keeping fish is better understood 
 than in England. Every inn has a box containing 
 
KiNTH DAY.] METHOD OF CONVEYING FISH. 249 
 
 grayling, trout, carp, or charr, into ^hich water from 
 a spring runs; and no one thinks of carrying or 
 sending dead fish for a dinner. A fish barrel full of 
 cool water, which is replenished at every fresh source 
 amongst these mountains, is carried on the shoulders 
 of the fisherman. And the fish, when confined in 
 weUs, are fed with buUocFs liver, cut into fine pieces, 
 so that they are often in better season in the tank or 
 stew than when they were taken. I have seen trout, 
 grayling, and charr even, feed voraciously, and take 
 their food almost from the hand. These methods of 
 carrying and preserving fish have, I believe, been 
 adopted from the monastic establishments. At 
 Admondt, in Styria, attached to the magnificent 
 monastery of that name, are abundant ponds and 
 reservoirs for every species of fresh- water fish; and 
 the charr, grayling, and trout are preserved in dif- 
 ferent waters — covered, enclosed, and under lock and 
 key. 
 
 POIET. — I admire in this country not only the 
 mode of preserving, carrying, and dressing fish, but 
 I am delighted, generally, with the habits of life 
 of the peasants, and with their manners. It is a 
 country in wliich I should like to live ; — ^the scenery is 
 so beautiful, the people so amiable and good-natured, 
 and their attentions to strangers so marked by courtesy 
 and disinterestedness. 
 
250 SALMOJSflA, Tninth day. 
 
 PHYS. — -They appear to me very amiable and good ; 
 but all classes seem to be little instructed. 
 
 POIET. — ^Tliere are few pliilosopliers amongst them, 
 certainly ; but they appear very happy, and 
 
 Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. 
 
 We have neither seen nor heard of any instances of 
 crime since we have been here. They fear their God, 
 love their sovereign, are obedient to the laws, and 
 seem perfectly contented. I know you would contrast 
 them with the active and educated peasantry of the 
 manufacturing districts of England; but I believe 
 they are much happier, and I am sure they are 
 generally better. 
 
 PHYS. — I doubt this ; the sphere of enjoyment, as 
 well as of benevolence, is enlarged by education. 
 
 POIET. — I am sorry to say I think the system 
 carried too far in England. God forbid, that any 
 useful light should be extinguished ! Let persons 
 who wish for education receive it ; but it appears to 
 me, that, in the great cities in England, it is, as it 
 were, forced upon the population ; and that sciences, 
 wliich the lower classes can only very superficially 
 acquire, are presented to them, in consequence of 
 which they often become idle and conceited and above 
 their usual laborious occupations. The unripe fruit 
 of the tree of knowledge is, I believe, always bitter or 
 
NiOTH DAY.] ED UCA TION. 251 
 
 sour; and scepticism and discontent — sicknesses of 
 the mind — are often the results of devouring it. 
 
 HAL. — Surely you cannot have a more religious^ 
 more morale or more improved population than that 
 of Scotland ? 
 
 POIET. — Precisely so. In Scotland education is 
 not forced upon the people ; it is sought for, and it 
 is connected with their forms of faith, acquired in 
 the bosoms of their families, and generally pursued 
 with a distinct object of prudence or interest ; nor is 
 that kind of education wanting in this country. 
 
 PIIYS. — Where a book is rarely seen, a newspaper 
 never. 
 
 POIET. — Pardon me — there is not a cottage with- 
 out a prayer-book ; and I am not sorry that these 
 innocent and happy men are not made active and 
 tumultuous subjects of King Press , whom I consider 
 as the most capricious, depraved, and unprincipled 
 tyrant, that ever existed in England. Depraved — 
 for it is to be bought by great wealth ; capricious — 
 because it sometimes foUows, and sometimes forms, 
 the voice of the lowest mob ; and unprincipled — 
 because, when its interests are concerned, it sets at 
 defiance private feeling and private character, and 
 neither regards virtue, dignity, nor purity. 
 
 HAL. — My friends, you are growing warm ; I 
 know you differ essentially on tliis subject; but 
 
SALMONIA. [XIXTH DAT. 
 
 surely you will allow that the full Hberty of the press, 
 even though it sometimes degenerates into licentious- 
 ness, and tliough it may sometimes be improperly 
 used by the influence of wealth, power, or private 
 favour, is yet highly advantageous, and even essential 
 to the existence of a free country : and, useful as it 
 may be to the population, it is still more useful to 
 the government ; to whom, as expressing the voice of 
 the people, though not always vox Bel, it may be 
 regarded as oracular or prophetic. But let us 
 change our conversation, which is neither in time 
 nor place. 
 
 POIET. — This river must be inexhaustible for 
 sport ; I liave nowhere seen so many fish. 
 
 HAL, — However full a river may be of trout and 
 grayling, there is a certain limit to the sport of the 
 angler, if continuous fishing be adopted in the same 
 pools. Every fish is in its turn made acquainted by 
 diurnal habit with the artificial fly, and either taken 
 or rendered cautious ; so that in a river fished much 
 by one or two good anglers, many fish cannot be 
 caught, except under peculiar circumstances of very 
 windy, rainy, or cloudy weather, when many flies 
 come on ; or at night, or at the time the water is 
 slightly coloured by a flood, or when fish change 
 their haunts in consequence of a great inundation. 
 In the Usk, in Monmouthshire, when it was very 
 
NINTH DAY.] EFFECT OF CONTINUOUS FISHING. 253 
 
 full of fish, in the best fishing time, when the spring 
 brown and dun flies were on the water, it was not 
 usual for some excellent anglers, who composed a 
 party of nine, and who fished in this river for ten 
 continuous days, to catch more than two or three fish 
 each person. But one day, when the water was 
 coloured by a flood, in which case the artificial fiy 
 could not be distinguished by the fish from the 
 natural fly, I caught twelve or fourteen of the same 
 fish, that had been in the habit of refusing my flies 
 for many days successively. This was in the end of 
 March, 1809, when the flies always came on the 
 water with great regularity ; the blues in dark days, 
 the browns in bright days, between twelve and 
 two o^clock in the middle of the day. In rivers 
 where the artificial fly has never been used, I believe 
 all the fish will mistake good imitations for natural 
 flies, and in their turn, to use an angler^ s phrase, 
 '' taste the steel ; " but even very imperfect imitations 
 and coarse tackle, which are only successful at night, 
 or in turbid water, are sufficient to render fish 
 cautious. This I am convinced of, by observing the 
 difference of the habits of fish in strictly preserved 
 streams, and in streams where even peasants have 
 fished with the coarsest tackle. I might quote the 
 Traun at Ischl, where the native fishermen used three 
 or four of the coarsest flies on the coaxsfist hair links 
 
254 SALMONIA, [ninth day. 
 
 made of four or five or six hairs, and the Traun, at 
 Gmiinden, where thej are not allowed to fish ; the 
 fish that rose took with much more certainty at 
 Gmiinden than at Ischl. At a time when many 
 fhes are on, particularly large ones, a few days of 
 continuous fishing, even with a single rod, will soon 
 make the sport indifferent in the best rivers; but 
 the larger and the deeper the river, the longer it 
 continues, because fish change their stations occa- 
 sionally, and pricked fish sometimes leave their 
 haunts, which are occupied by others ; and graylings 
 are more disposed to change their places than trouts. 
 As instances of the difference in this respect 
 between large and small rivers, I may quote the 
 Yockla and the Agger in Upper Austria. The 
 first of these rivers, when I fished in it in 1818, 
 was full of trout and grayling, and I believe I was 
 the first person, for at least many years, that had 
 ever thrown an artificial fly upon it. It is a small 
 stream, from eight to fifteen yards wide, and can 
 every where be commanded by the double-handed 
 rod, and is generally shallow. The first day that 
 I fished in this stream, which was in the beginning 
 of August, at every throw I hooked a fish, and I 
 took out and restored again to their element in 
 the course of a few hours more than one hundred 
 and fifty trout and grayling. The next day I 
 
NINTH DAY.] DIFFERENCE OF RIVERS. 255 
 
 fished in the same places^ but with a very different 
 result; I caught only half a dozen large fish: the 
 third morning, going over the same ground, I had 
 great difficulty even to get a brace of fish for my 
 dinner, and those, as well as I recollect, I caught by 
 throwing in places which had not been fished before. 
 I ought to mention, that the space of water where 
 this experiment was made did not exceed liaE a mile 
 in length. I shall now speak of the Agger, which is 
 a much larger and deeper river than the Yockla, and 
 cannot be commanded in any part by a double-handed 
 rod, being at least from forty to sixty yards across. 
 The first time I fished this river, I had the same kind 
 of sport as in the Yockla ; the second day, under the 
 same favourable circumstances, there were fewer rises 
 than on the first day, but still sufficient to give good 
 sport; and it was the fourth day before it became 
 difficult to catch a good dish of fish, and necessary to 
 seek new water. The greater depth of the water, and 
 the change of place of the fish, particularly the gray- 
 ling, explain this, to say nothing of the greater num- 
 ber of fish wliich the larger river contained. I am, 
 of course, speaking of one of the best periods of fly- 
 fishing, when many large flies, of which imitations are 
 easily found, have been on the water. In spring (a 
 bad season for fly-fishing in high Alpine countries) I 
 have tlirown great varieties of flies on these two 
 
:256 SALMONIA. [nixth dat. 
 
 higlily stocked streams, and liave found it difficult to 
 get a brace of fish for the table, as the trout and 
 grayling were all lying at the bottom, not expecting 
 any winged food at this season. 
 
 A river that runs into a large lake affords, at it 
 junction with the lake, by far the best place for con- 
 tinuous angling, particularly for trout in autumn. 
 The fish are constantly running up the river for the 
 purpose of spawning, and every day offers a succession 
 of new shoals, of which many will take the fly ; I say 
 manyy because at this season some of the fish, parti- 
 cularly the females, are capricious, and refuse a bait, 
 of which, under other circumstances, they are greedy. 
 I may say the same with respect to the exit of a river 
 from a lake, to which successions of fishes resort, and 
 though trout are found abundantly in such places, 
 yet they are often still better places for grayling when 
 these fish exist in the lake, the tendency of grayling 
 being rather, as I said on another occasion, to descend 
 than to ascend waters, whilst that of the trout is 
 the contrary. The same principles apply to salmon 
 and sea-trout fishing, which run up rivers from basins 
 of the sea : the best situations for continuous angling 
 are those parts of the river where there is a succession 
 of fishes from the tide. 
 
 POIET, — You spoke just now of peasants fishing 
 with the fly in Austria : I thought this art was 
 
NINTH DAY.] ANGLING FOR FROGS. 257 
 
 entirely English ; and though I have travelled much, 
 I do not recollect ever to have seen fly-fishing 
 practised by native anglers abroad. 
 
 HAL. — I assure you there are fishers with the 
 artificial fly in different parts of Switzerland, Ger- 
 many, and Illyria, though always with rude tackle, 
 and usually upon rapid streams. Besides the Traun, I 
 can mention the Ehine, the Ehone, and the Drave, as 
 rivers where I have seen fish caught with rude 
 imitations of flies used by native anglers. In Italy, 
 where trout and grayling are very rare, and only 
 found amongst the highest mountain chains, I have 
 never seen any fly-fishers ; but near Eavenna I have 
 sometimes seen anglers for frogs, who threw their 
 bait exactly as we throw a fly, and caught great 
 numbers of these animals : and the nature of their 
 apparatus surprised me more than their method of 
 using it ; instead of a hook and bait, they employed 
 a small dry frog, tied to a long piece of twine, the 
 forelegs of which projected like two hooks, and this 
 they threw at a distance, by means of a long rod. 
 The frogs rose like fish and gorged the small dry 
 frog, by the legs of which they were pulled out of 
 the water. I was informed by one of these fishermen 
 that he sometimes took two hundred frogs in this 
 way in a morning, and that the frogs never swallowed 
 any bait when still or apparently dead, but caught at 
 
258 SALMON I A. [ninth day. 
 
 whatever was moving or appeared alive on the surface 
 of the water ; so that this reptile feeds like a nobler 
 animal, the eagle, only on living prey.-'' 
 
 POIET. — You say trout are rare in Italy, yet on 
 Ash Wednesday, a great day for the consumption of 
 fish in Eome, I remember to have seen some large 
 trout, which, I was told, were from the Yelino, 
 above the Falls of Terni. 
 
 HAL. — I once went almost to the source of this 
 river, above Eieti, in the hopes of catching trout, but 
 I was unsuccessful. I saw some taken by nets, but 
 the fish were too few, and the river too foul, from the 
 deposition of calcareous matter, to render it a good 
 stream for the angler. In this journey I saw some 
 trout in brooks in the Sabine country, that I dare 
 say might have been taken by the fly ; but they were 
 small, and like the brook trout of England. In these 
 streams, as well as in the Yelino and other torrents, I 
 found the water-ouzel, which, as far as my knowledge 
 extends, is always a companion of the trout, and I 
 believe feeds much upon the same larvse of water-flies. 
 
 [* In my work on the Ionian Islands, another kind of angling is 
 noticed as practised there, and that with the fly — an aerial kind — for 
 swallows. In spring, when these birds first arrive, and then crowd 
 about the lofty cliffs of the little island of Paxo, the natives, standing 
 or sitting on the dizzy margin, take them, when on the wing, with 
 the bait mentioned, attached to a fine hook and line, throwing it 
 into the air, very much in the same manner as in ordinary fly- 
 fishing. — J. D.] 
 
NINTH DAY.] CHABR. 259 
 
 ORN. — These singular little birds^ as I have 
 witnessed^ walk under water. I have often watched 
 them running beneath the surface of the sides of 
 streams^ and passing from stone to stone; not^ 
 however, by means of air-piunp feet, as I had once 
 conjectured, but by laying hold with their claws of 
 stones and the projecting parts of rocks. I conclude 
 they were then in the act of searching for, or feeding 
 upon, larvae. 
 
 HAL, — I suppose so, and I hope Ornither will 
 shoot one to give us an opportunity of examining the 
 contents of their stomachs, and of knowing with 
 certainty the nature of their food. 
 
 PETS. — ^The charr "^ is a most beautiful and 
 excellent fish, and is, of course, a fish of prey. Is he 
 not an object of sport to the angler ? 
 
 HAL. — ^They generally haunt deep cool lakes, and 
 are seldom found at the surface till late in the 
 autumn. When they are at the surface, however, 
 they will take either fly or minnow. I have known 
 some caught in both these ways; and have myself 
 taken a charr, even in summer, in one of those 
 beautiful, small, deep lakes in the Upper Tyrol, near 
 Nassereit; but it was where a cool stream entered 
 from the mountain; and the fish did not rise, but 
 swallowed the artificial fly under water. The charr is 
 
 * Salmling of the Germans. 
 
 s2 
 
260 
 
 SALMONIA, [ninth DAT. 
 
 Charr of 'Windennere. 
 
 Gwyniad, or Schelly of H awes Water. 
 
 Charr of Ilawes "Water, 
 
NINTH DAY.] UMBLA, 261 
 
 always in its colour a very brilliant fish, but in 
 different countries there are many varieties in the 
 tint. I do not remember ever to have seen more 
 beautiful fish than those of Aussee, which, when in 
 perfect season, have the lower fins and the belly of 
 the brightest vermilion, with a white line on the 
 outside of the pectoral, ventral, anal, and lower part 
 of the caudal fin, and with vermilion spots, surrounded 
 by the bright olive shade of the sides and back ; the 
 dorsal fin in the charr has ] 1 spines, the pectoral 14, 
 the ventral 9, the anal 10, and the caudal 20. I 
 have fished for them in many lakes, without success, 
 both in England and Scotland, and also amongst the 
 Alps ; and I am told the only sure way of taking 
 them is by sinking a line with a bullet, and a hook 
 having a live minnow attached to it, in the deep 
 water which they usually haunt; and in this way, 
 likewise, I have no doubt the umhla, or ombre chevalier, 
 might be taken."^ 
 
 POIET. — I have never happened to see this fish. 
 
 HAL. — It is very like a charr in form, but is 
 without spots, and has a white and silvery belly. 
 On the table, its flesh cuts white or cream-colour, 
 
 [* In the lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland, in which the 
 charr is found, the manner of taking it varies ; in Windermere trolling 
 with a minnow is successfully used ; in Hawes Water the artificial fly ; 
 in Crummock Water it refuses all baits, and ig never caught except in 
 the net.— J. D.] 
 
262 
 
 8ALM0NIA. 
 
 [ninth DAT. 
 
 and it is exceedingly like charr in flavour. Feb. ] 1, 
 1827, one was bronglit me from the lake of Bourget, 
 in Savoy; it was said to be small for this fish — ^it 
 
 ^^W 
 
 was 15 inches long, and 1\ in circumference. In 
 the dorsal fin there were 1 2 spines, in the pectoral 9, 
 in the ventral 8, in the anal 11, and in the caudal 24. 
 
 POTET. — Is it found in tliis country ? 
 
 HAL. — From some descriptions I have heard of 
 certain species of the salmo found in the Maun See, 
 Traun See, and Leopoldstadt See, I think it is. 
 Bloch says, that it is peculiar to the lakes of Geneva 
 and Neufchatel; but what I have just said must 
 convince you of the inaccuracy of this statement, as 
 I dare say the fish exists in other deep waters of a 
 like character amongst the Alps. It is a fish closely 
 
NINTH DAY.] LA VERET. 263 
 
 allied to the cliarr, and congenerous both in form 
 and habits."^ 
 
 PHYS. — ^You mentioned, among the fish for dinner, 
 the laveret : I never heard of this fish before. 
 
 HAL. — It is a fish known in England by the name 
 of sJielley, or fresh- water herring ; in Wales, bj that 
 of gwyniad ; in Ireland, by that of pollan ; and in 
 Scotland, by that of vendis. In colour it is most like 
 a grayhng, but with broader and larger scales : it is 
 common in the large lakes of most Alpine countries, 
 and is known at Geneva by the name oi ferra ; and I 
 believe that the salmo cceruleuSj or salmo Wartmanni 
 of Bloch, or the gang-jisch of the lake of Constance, 
 from a comparison that I made of it with the ferra, 
 is a variety of the same fish. It sometimes is as 
 large as 21bs. -, and when quite fresh, and well fried 
 or broiled, is an exceedingly good fish, and calvers 
 like a grayling. The laveret of different lakes has 
 appeared to me to vary in the number of the spines 
 in the fins. One, brought me from the lake of 
 Zurich, 13 inches long, and 8 inches in girth, had 
 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 15 in the pectoral fins, 
 11 in the ventral, 13 in the anal, and 18 in the 
 caudal. The gang-fisch, from the lake of Constance, 
 
 [* According to M. Agassiz, the ombre chevalier and the charr of 
 the lakes of the north of England, are merely varieties of the same 
 species, putting aside colour as of no importance in relation to specific 
 character.] 
 
264 SALMOKIA. [ninth day. 
 
 which was of a bluer colour^ but^ I think decidedly, 
 only a variety of the same fish, was 7| inches long, 
 and 4 in girth, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 15 in 
 i\\ei pectoral, 11 in the ventral, 12 in the anal, and 
 18 in the caudal. A laveret, from the Traun See, 
 had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 17 in the pectoral, 
 13 in the ventral fin, 12 in the anal fin, and 24 in 
 the caudal fin. One from the Halstadt See* was a 
 larger and broader fish, but did not differ from the 
 laveret of the Traun See, except in having two spines 
 less in the tail. 
 
 POIET. — Is this fish ever taken with the line ? 
 
 HAL. — I beheve only with nets. It feeds on 
 vegetables; and in the stomachs of those I have 
 opened, I have never found either flies or small fishes.f 
 
 AT TABLE. 
 
 ORN. — Now the hucho is dressed, and on the same 
 table with other species of the salmo, I perceive his 
 peculiarities more distinctly; and, in addition to 
 those you have mentioned, he appears to me to have 
 a stronger upper jaw, and a larger projection of bone 
 below the orbit of the eye. ^ 
 
 * See Vignette, page 115. 
 [ i- This, its supposed manner of feeding, is doubtful. — See note at 
 the end of the volume. — J. D.] 
 
NINTH DAY.] OROAmSATION OF THE HUGHO. 265 
 
 HAL. — He has ; and you will find a similar 
 character in the pike and perch, and, I believe, in 
 most fishes of prey ; and the use of it seems to be, to 
 strengthen the fulcrum of the lever on which the 
 lower jaw moves, so as to afford the means of greater 
 strength to the whole muscular apparatus, by means 
 of which the fish seizes his prey. 
 
 POIET. — These fishes, then, are analogous to the 
 predatory animals of the feline genus, which have this 
 part of the head exceedingly strong ; and it is here 
 that the craniologists or phrenologists fix the organ of 
 courage : does not tliis extensive chain of analogies 
 offer an argument in favour of this long-agitated and 
 generally unpopular doctrine ? 
 
 PHYS. — In my opinion, it offers, like most of the 
 facts which have been brought forward to prove the 
 truths of the vicAV of Gall and Spurzheim, an 
 argument rather unfavourable, when thoroughly and 
 minutely examined. 
 
 POIET. — How ? 
 
 PH7S. — In these rapacious and predatory animals, 
 the organisation of the head must be connected with 
 the functions of the jaws, as the construction of the 
 shoulder-blade must be related to the use of the fore 
 leg, which, being intended to strike and seize by 
 talons, must have a powerful support and a strong 
 bony apparatus in the shoulder, wliicli might as well 
 
266 8ALM0NIA. [mxth dat. 
 
 be called the organ of courage as the projection below 
 the frontal bone: but these animals have no more 
 what is called courage in man^ than they have what 
 is called reason : they face danger when they are 
 hungry, but almost always fly when their appetite is 
 satisfied : a hen, in defending her chickens against a 
 powerful dog, or the game cock, in fighting for the 
 female, or the timid stag in the rutting season, shows 
 quite as much of this quality as the most ferocious 
 royal tiger. Courage is the result of strong passions 
 or strong motives ; and in man it usually results from 
 the love of glory or the fear of shame ; and it appears 
 to me a perfectly absurd idea, that of connecting it 
 with an organ which is merely intended to assist the 
 predatory habits and the mastication of a carnivorous 
 animal. 
 
 HAL, — I agree with Physicus in this view of the 
 subject. I once heard a physiologist of some reputa- 
 tion deducing an argument in favour of craniology, 
 from the form of the skull of the beaver, which he 
 called a constructive animal, and contended, that 
 there was something of the same character in the 
 skulls of distinguished architects : now, the skull of the 
 beaver is so formed, that he is able to use his jaws 
 for cutting down the trees with which he makes his 
 dam ; and if this analogy were correct, the architect 
 ought unquestionably to employ liis teeth for the 
 
NINTH DAY.] CRANIOLOOY. 267 
 
 same purpose; and though I have known distin- 
 guished men, who have been in the habit of using 
 knives for cutting furniture with a sort of nervous 
 restlessness of hand, I do not recollect to have heard 
 of the teeth being employed in the same way ; and I 
 think it would be quite as correct to find the 
 architectural or constructive organ in the opposite 
 part of the body — the tail, as the beaver makes a more 
 ingenious use of this part than even of his mouth.* 
 Pray, have you ever observed, Poietes, any particular 
 protuberance in the nether parts of any of our 
 distinguished architects ? 
 
 POIET. — I am not a craniologist ; but I would 
 have the doctrine overturned by facts, and not by 
 ridicule; and I have certainly seen some remarkable 
 instances, wdiich wxre favourable to the system. 
 
 HAL. — My experience is entirely on the opposite 
 
 [* According to the popular idea, which by Hearne has been 
 shown to be erroneous. In his work, "A Journey to the Northern 
 Ocean," published in 1795, a full, and, I believe the first, accurate 
 account is given of the habits of this intelligent and interesting 
 animal. At the same time that he sweeps away the fictions of its 
 romantic history, he describes particulars not less marvellous, as to the 
 manner of its constructing its dwelling-places, with their entrances 
 under water, and their dams on the equalising principle of mill-dams, 
 to secure that these should be always under water. It is not the 
 tail — structurally unfit — that the beaver employs in its works, 
 "displaying a degree of sagacity and foresight of approaching evils 
 little inferior to that of the human species," but its teeth and 
 paws. — J. D.] 
 
268 SA LMOmA . [ninth day. 
 
 side ; and I once saw a distinguished craniologist in 
 error on a point which, he considered as the most 
 decided. He was shown two children, one of whom 
 was possessed of great mathematical acquirements, 
 the other of extraordinary musical taste. With the 
 utmost confidence he pronounced judgment, and was 
 mistaken. It appeared to me, that, whilst he was 
 examining the two heads, he hummed an air, which, 
 being out of tune, was not responded to by the 
 musical child, but somehow struck the fancy of the 
 mathematical one. 
 
 ORN. — Tliis hucho is a very good fish, and, indeed, 
 I can praise all the varieties of the salmo on the 
 table that I have yet tasted. 
 
 PHYS. — Amongst them, I prefer the charr, which, 
 I think, is even better than the best fresh salmon I 
 ever tasted. 
 
 POIET. — Tliis charr is surprisingly red and full 
 of curd ; I wonder at its fat : it comes from the 
 Griindtl See, which is a high Alpine lake, covered 
 with ice more than half the year : what food can the 
 fish find in so pure and cold a water ? 
 
 EAL. — Minnows and small chubs are found in this 
 lake ; and the flies which haunt it in summer have 
 been aquatic larvae in the autumn, winter, and 
 spring; and there are usually great quantities of 
 small shell fish, which live in the deeper parts of 
 
NINTH DAY.l FAT AND FLESH OF HUCHO. 269 
 
 this water; so that charr may find food even in 
 winter; and cold^ or the repose to which it leads, 
 seems favourable to tlie development or conservation 
 of fat. Most of the polar animals (the whale^ morse, 
 seal, and white bear, for instance) are loaded with 
 this substance ; and the salmon of the Arctic Ocean 
 are remarkable for their quantity of curd : those that 
 run up the rivers in Eussia from the White Sea are 
 said to be fatter and better than those caught in the 
 streams which run into the Baltic. 
 
 ORN. — I agree with Physicus in his praise of the 
 charr : we are indebted to you for an excellent 
 entertainment. 
 
 HAL. — At Lintz, on the Danube, I could have 
 given you a fish dinner of a different description, 
 which you might have liked as a variety. The four 
 kinds of perch, the s^iegelJcarjofen, and the silurus 
 glanis ; all good fish, and which I am sorry we have 
 not in England^ where I doubt not they might be 
 easily naturalised, and they would form an admirable 
 addition to the table in inland counties. Since 
 England has become Protestant, the cultivation of 
 fresh-water fish has been much neglected. The 
 hurhoty or lotte, which akeady exists in some of the 
 streams tributary to the Trent, and which is a most 
 admirable fish, might be diffused without much 
 difficulty ; and nothing could be more easy than to 
 
270 SALMONIA. [kinth day. 
 
 naturalise the spiegelharpfen and silurus ; and I see 
 no reason why the perca lucio perca and zingel should 
 not succeed in some of our dear lakes and ponds, 
 which abound in coarse fish. The new Zoological 
 Society, I hope, will attempt something of this kind; 
 and it will be a bett(;r object than mtroducing birds 
 and beasts of prey — though I have no objection to 
 any sources of rational amusement or philosophical 
 curiosity. 
 
 POIET. — A fish dinner such as you have just 
 described, combined with one such as we have en- 
 joyed to-day, might, I think, be made an interesting 
 experimental lecture on natural history. The analogies 
 of the different species and genera of fishes, so distinct 
 in the form of their organs, are likewise marked in 
 the appearance and taste of their flesh. The salmon 
 and the charr may be regarded as the generic types 
 of the salmo. By trout, which have sometimes red 
 and sometimes wliite flesh, they are connected with 
 the grayling and hucho. By the grayling the trout 
 is connected with the laveret, and by the laveret the 
 genus salmo is connected with the carp genus. The 
 charr is irmnediately connected with the grayling and 
 laveret by the umbla. By the sea trout the salmon 
 is connected with the trout ; and by the hucho, with 
 the pike and perch families. 
 
 EAL. — We will arrange a dinner of this kind in 
 
NINTH DAY.] THE TEA UN. 271 
 
 England, and by means of it follow the analogies of 
 salt and fresh water fishes. But the time for our 
 parting is almost arrived. — Let us drink a glass each 
 of this old wine of the Danube to our next happy 
 meeting, and go and take a last look of the Tall of 
 Traun, whilst our carriages are preparing. 
 
 [They walk to the rock above the Fall of the Trami.'] 
 
 HAL. — See, the cataract is now in great beauty ; 
 the river above is coloured by the setting sun, and 
 the glow of the rosy light on the upper stream is 
 beautifully and wonderfully contrasted with the tints 
 of the cataract below. Have you ever seen anything 
 so fine ? 
 
 POIET. — The lights are beautiful; but I have 
 certainly seen a finer combination of features in the 
 Pall of the Yelino, at Terni, though that water is not 
 clear ; but, even with tliis defect, it is certainly the 
 most perfect of European falls. This cascade of the 
 Traun, though not so elevated as that of Terni, and 
 not so large as that of Schaffhausen, yet, from its 
 perfect clearness, and the harmony of the surrounding 
 objects, ranks high, as to picturesque effect, amongst 
 the waterfalls of Europe ; and the wonderful trans- 
 parency of its pale-green water gives it a peculiar 
 charm in my eyes, enhanced as it is now by the light 
 of the glowing western sky; and the tints of the 
 
272 SALMONIA. [nixth dat. 
 
 quadrant iris on its spray are not brighter than those 
 of its stream and foam. 
 
 ORN. — ^We have now followed this water at least 
 thirty miles, and wherever we have seen it, it has 
 always displayed the same characters of clearness and 
 rapidity — of green stream and white foam; and we 
 have traced it from the snowy mountains of Styria 
 to the plains of Upper Austria, where it serves to 
 purify the darker Danube. How is it, that it has 
 preserved its transparency, though so many of its 
 tributary streams have been foul, either from the 
 thunder storm, or from the sudden melting of snows ? 
 
 HAL. — The three small lakes and the two larger 
 ones, wliich are in fact its reservoirs, are the cause of 
 this. The Griindtl See furnishes its principal stream, 
 and this lake is fed by two others — Toplitz See and 
 Lammer See ; and the tributary streams, which unite 
 at Aussee, from Alten Aussee and Oden See, though 
 one is blue and the other yellow, yet combine to give 
 a tint, wliich is nearly the same as that from the 
 stream of the Griindtl See, and which the river retains 
 throughout its course. Yet I have seen even this 
 river very foul, but only in a part of its course, below 
 Ischel. I was once at that place, when the thunder 
 storm of a night having washed the dust of the roads 
 into the river, it was extremely turbid from Ischel 
 to the Traun See. It rendered the upper part 
 
NINTH DAY.] COLOUR OF WATER. 273 
 
 of this large lake coloured; but, notwithstanding 
 this, the river came from the lower part of it per- 
 fectly clear, and I caught fish in it there with a 
 fly, which at its entrance into the lake was quite 
 impossible. 
 
 POIET. — You, Halieus, must certainly have con- 
 sidered the causes which produce the colours of waters. 
 The streams of our own island are of a very different 
 colour from these mountain rivers, and why should 
 the same element or substance assume such a variety 
 of tints ? 
 
 HAL. — I certainly have often thought upon the 
 subject, and I have made some observations and one 
 experiment in relation to it. I will give you my 
 opinions with pleasure, and, as far as I know, they 
 have not been brought forward in any of the works 
 on the properties of water, or on its consideration as 
 a chemical element. The purest water with which w e 
 are acquainted is undoubtedly that which falls from 
 the atmosphere. Having touched air alone, it can 
 contain nothing but what it gains from the atmo- 
 sphere, and it is distilled without the chance of those 
 impurities, which may exist in the vessels used in an 
 artificial operation. We cannot well examine the 
 water precipitated from the atmosphere, as rain, with- 
 out collecting it in vessels, and all artificial contact 
 gives more or less of contamination; but in snow. 
 
274 SALMON! A. [ninth day. 
 
 melted by the sunbeams^ that has fallen on glaciers, 
 themselves formed from frozen snow, water may be 
 regarded as in its state of greatest purity. Congela- 
 tion expels both salts and air from water, whether 
 existing below, or formed in, the atmosphere ; and in 
 the high and uninhabited regions of glaciers, there 
 can scarcely be any substances to contaminate. 
 Removed from animal and vegetable life, they are 
 even above the mineral kingdom ; and though there 
 are instances in which the rudest kind of vegetation 
 (of the fungus or mucor kind) is even found upon 
 snows, yet this is a rare occurrence; and red snow, 
 which is occasioned by it, is an extraordinary and not 
 a common phenomenon towards the pole, and on the 
 highest mountains of the globe. Having examined 
 the water formed from melted snows on glaciers in 
 different parts of the Alps, and having always found 
 it of the same quality, I shall consider it as pure 
 water, and describe its characters. Its colour, 
 when it has any depth, or when a mass of it is 
 seen tlu-ough, is bright blue ; and, according to 
 its greater or less depth of substance, it has more 
 or less of this colour : as its insipidity, and its 
 other physical qualities, are not at this moment 
 objects of your inquiry, I shall not dwell upon 
 them. In general, in examining lakes and masses 
 of water in liigh mountains, their colour is of 
 
NINTH DAY.] COLOUR OF WATER. 275 
 
 the same bright azure. And Captain Parry states, 
 that the water on the Polar ice has the like beautiful 
 tint. When vegetables grow in lakes, the colour 
 becomes nearer sea green, and as the quantity of 
 impregnation from their decay increases — greener, 
 yellowish green, and at length, when the vegetable 
 extract is large in quantity — as in countries where 
 peat is found — yellow, and even brown. To mention 
 instances, the Lake of Geneva, fed from sources 
 (particularly the higher Ehone) formed from melting 
 snow, is blue ; and the Ehone pours from it, dyed of 
 the deepest azure, and retains partially this colour 
 till it is joined by the Saone, which gives to it a 
 greener hue. The Lake of Morat, on the contrary, 
 wliich is fed from a lower country, and from less pure 
 sources, is grass green. And there is an illustrative 
 instance in some small lakes fed from the same source, 
 in the road from Inspruck to Stutgard, which I 
 observed in 1815 (as well as I recollect) between 
 Nazareit and Eeiti. The highest lake fed by melted 
 snows in March, when I saw it, was bright blue. It 
 discharged itself by a small stream into another, into 
 which a number of large pines had been blown by a 
 winter storm, or faUen from some other cause: in 
 this lake its colour was blue green. In a third 
 lake, in which there were not only pines and their 
 branches, but likewise other decaying vegetable 
 
 T 2 
 
276 SALMONIA. [ninth day. 
 
 matter, it had a tint of faded grass green ; and these 
 changes had occurred in a space not much more than 
 a mile in length. These observations I made in 
 1815 : on returning to the same spot twelve years 
 after, in August and September, I found the 
 character of the lakes entirely changed. The pine 
 wood washed into the second lake had disappeared ; 
 a large quantity of stones and gravel, washed down 
 by torrents, or detached by an avalanche, supplied 
 their place : there was no perceptible difference of 
 tint in the two upper lakes; but the lower one, 
 where there was still some vegetable matter, seemed 
 to possess a greener hue. The same principle wiU 
 apply to the Scotch and Irish rivers, which, when they 
 rise or issue from pure rocky sources, are blue, or 
 bluish green; and when fed from peat bogs, or 
 alluvial countries, yeUow, or amber-coloured, or brown 
 — even after they have deposited a part of their 
 impurities in great lakes. Sometimes, though rarely, 
 mineral impregnations give colour to water : small 
 streams are sometimes green or yeUow from ferruginous 
 depositions. Calcareous matters seldom affect their 
 colour, but often their transparency, when deposited, 
 as is the case with the Velino at Terni, and the Anio 
 at Tivoli ; but I doubt if pure saline matters, which 
 are in themselves white, ever change the tint of 
 water. 
 
NINTH DAY.l COLOUR OF THE OCEAN, 277 
 
 ORN. — On what then does the tint of the ocean 
 depend, which has itself given name to a colour ?* 
 
 HAL. — I think probably on vegetable matter, and, 
 perhaps, partially on two elementary principles, iodine 
 and brome, which it certainly contains, though these 
 are possibly the results of decayed marine vegetables. 
 These give a yellow tint, when dissolved in minute 
 portions in water, and this, mixed with the blue of 
 pure water, would occasion sea green. I made, many 
 years ago, being on the Mer de Glace, an experiment 
 on this subject. I threw a small quantity of iodine, 
 a substance then recently discovered, into one of those 
 deep blue basins of water, wliich are so frequent on 
 
 [* The colour of the ocean out of soundiags is hlue, indeed blue 
 water in the sailor's vocabulary is equivalent to being out of soundings. 
 In shallow seas, in which light is reflected from the bottom, the 
 various tints of the surface may be considered as depending chiefly on 
 the modifying influence of the rays so reflected, being greenish, when 
 the bottom is yellow, &c. At one time the blue colour of the ocean 
 •was supposed to be owing to the reflected hue of the atmosphere. 
 That it is a property of the water itself, I have had proof, and often, 
 in ocean voyages. The following is from a sea journal kept in 1820, 
 when returning from Ceylon, and may be adduced in proof: referring 
 to a gale, when no blue sky was to be seen, it is observed, " during 
 this gale the sky was overcast, so as to be of the dark grey or light 
 sooty hue, but the sea retained its usual colour. Its blue colour 
 appeared very distinct, when one looked immediately down from the 
 ship into the sea ; and it was equally evident in the waves as they 
 rose, their heads being between the light and eye of the observer. 
 Even in the colour of the surface of the sea in general, a tint of blue 
 might be distinguished, but it was not bright on account of the dark- 
 ness of the surface." — J. D.] 
 
278 SALMONIA. [ninth day. 
 
 that glacier, and, diffusing it as' it dissolved with, a 
 stick, I saw the water change first to sea green in 
 colour, then to grass green, and lastly to yellowish 
 green : I do not, however, give this as a proof, but 
 only as a fact favourable to my conjecture. 
 
 POIET. — It appears to me to confirm your view of 
 the subject, that snow and ice, which are merely puje 
 crystallised water, are always blue, when seen by 
 transmitted light. I have often admired the deep 
 azure in crevices in masses of snow in severe winters, 
 and the same colour in the glaciers of Switzerland, 
 particularly at the arch where the Arve issues, in 
 the YaUey of Chamouni. We thank you for your 
 illustration. 
 
 HAL. — In return, I ask you for some further 
 remarks on this grand waterfall. You said just now, 
 you preferred the fall of the Yelino for picturesque 
 effect to any other waterfall you have seen ; yet it is 
 a small river compared even with the Traun, and 
 nothing compared with the Gotha, the Ehine, or, 
 above all, the Glommen. 
 
 POIET, — Size is merely comparative : I prefer the 
 fall of the Yelino, because its parts are in harmony. 
 It displays aU the force and power of the element, in 
 its rapid and precipitous descent ; and you feel that 
 even man would be notliing in its waves, and would 
 be dashed to pieces by its force. The whole scene is 
 
NINTH DAY.] REFLECTJONS. 279 
 
 embraced at once by the eye^ and the effect is almost 
 as sublime as that of the Glommen, where the river 
 is at least one hundred times as large; for the 
 Glommen falls^ as it were, from a whole valley upon 
 a mountain of granite, and unless where you see the 
 giant pines of Norway, fifty or sixty feet in height, 
 carried down by it and swimming in its whirlpools 
 like straws, you have no idea of its magnitude and 
 power. Yet still, I think, considering it in all its 
 relations, tliis is the most awful fall of water I have 
 ever seen, as that of Velino is the most perfect and 
 beautiful. I am not sure that I ought not to place 
 the fall of the Gotha above that of the Ehine, both 
 for variety of effect and beauty ; and the river, in my 
 opinion, is quite as large, and the colour of the water 
 quite as beautiful. 
 
 EAL, — But our horses are ready, and the time of 
 separation arrives. I trust we shall all have a happy 
 meeting in England in the winter. I have made 
 you idlers at home and abroad, but I hope to some 
 purpose; and I trust you wiU confess the time 
 bestowed upon anghng has not been thrown away. 
 The most important principle, perhaps, in life is to 
 have a pursuit — a useful one if possible, and at all 
 events an innocent one. And the scenes you have 
 enjoyed — the contemplations to which they have led, 
 and the exercise ia which we have indulged, have. 
 
280 SALMON I A, [ninth day. 
 
 I am sure, been very salutary to the body, and, I 
 hope, to the mind. I have always found a peculiar 
 efifect from this kind of life ; it has appeared to bring 
 me back to early times and feehngs, and to create 
 again the hopes and happiness of youthful days. 
 
 PETS, — I felt something like what you described,, 
 and were I convinced that in the cultivation of 
 the amusement, these feelings would increase, I 
 would devote myself to it with passion ; but I fear, 
 in my case this is impossible. Ah ! could I recover 
 any thing like that freshness of mind, which I 
 possessed at twenty-five, and which, like the dew of 
 the dawning morning, covered all objects and nourished 
 all things that grew, and in which they were more 
 beautiful even than in mid-day sunshine, — what 
 would I not give? All that I have gained in an 
 active and not unprofitable life. How well I remember 
 that delightful season, when, full of power, I sought 
 for power in others ; and power was sympathy, and 
 sympathy power. ^Tien the dead and the unknown, 
 the great of other ages and of distant places, were 
 made, by the force of the imagination, my companions 
 and friends ; when every voice seemed one of praise 
 and love; when every flower had the bloom and 
 odour of the rose ; and every spray or plant seemed 
 either the poet^s laurel, or the civic oak — which 
 appeared to offer themselves as wreaths to adorn my 
 
NINTH DAT.] REFLECTIONS. 281 
 
 throbbing brow. But, alas ! this cannot be ; and 
 even you cannot have two sjprings in life — though 
 I have no doubt you have fishing days, in which the 
 feelings of youth return, and that your autumn has a 
 more vernal character than mine. 
 
 POIET. — I do not think Halieus had ever any 
 season, except a perpetual and gentle spring : for the 
 tones of his mind have been always so quiet, it has 
 been so little scorched by sunshine, and so Httle 
 shaken by winds, that, I think, it may be compared 
 to that sempivernal climate fabled of the Hesperides, 
 where the same trees produced at once buds, leaves, 
 blossoms, and fruits. 
 
 HAL, — Nay, my friends, spare me a little, spare 
 my gray hairs. I have not perhaps abused my youth 
 so much as some of my friends, but all things 
 that you have known, I have known ; and if I have 
 not been so much scorched by the passions from 
 which so many of my acquaintances have suffered, 
 I owe it rather to the constant employment of a 
 laborious profession, and to the exertions called for 
 by the hopes, wants, and wishes of a rising family, 
 than to any merits of my own, either moral or 
 constitutional. I'or my health, I may thank my 
 ancestors after my God, and I have not squandered 
 what was so bountifully given ; and though I do not 
 expect hke our arch-patriarch, Walton, to number 
 
282 
 
 SALMON! A. 
 
 [ninth day. 
 
 ninety years and upwards^, yet, I hope, as long as 
 I can enjoy in a vernal day the warmth and light 
 of the sunbeams, still to haunt the streams — following 
 the example of our late venerable friend, the president 
 of the Eoyal Academy,^ in company with whom, 
 when he was an octogenarian, I have thrown the fly, 
 caught trout, and enjoyed a delightful day of angling 
 and social amusement, in the shady green meadows 
 by the bright clear streams of the Wandle. 
 
 * Benjamin "West. 
 
 Griindtl Lake Upper Austria. 
 
.VDDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 {On the Parr, page 69.) 
 
 The author, in supposing that the parr may be produced from 
 a cross between the river trout and the sea trout, does not 
 mean to attach any importance to this idea. The fish differs so 
 Httle from the common trout, that it may be questioned, 
 whether it is not more entitled to the character of a variety 
 than of a species. In many rivers on the continent, the author 
 has seen small trout with olive or brown marks, like those of 
 the British parr ; and a friend informs him, that he has caught 
 fish of the same kind in the streams connected with the Lake of 
 Geneva.* In rivers, flowing into the Danube, these small fish 
 are very common ; but, as well as he remembers, their marks 
 are pale or yellowish-brown, or olive, and not dark or blue like 
 those of our parr. The salmon does not belong to any of these 
 localities, but the hucho haunts the tributary streams of the 
 Danube. The smelts, or young of the salmo hucho, and sea 
 trout, and lake trout, are all distinguished by the uniform dark 
 colour of the back, and the silvery whiteness of the belly. He 
 does not remember to have seen any of the streaked, or parr 
 varieties of trout in rivers, in which there was only one species, 
 or variety of large salmo. The mottled colour of the skin is, he 
 
 [* The young of the common trout has transverse marks similar to those 
 of the parr, though less distinct, yet sufficiently so to require an experienced 
 eye to avoid mistaking the one for the other. ,These markings indeed seem 
 to belong to fish of the salmon kind generally, and hence the facility of 
 adopting the view proposed — hardly advocated- -by the author, that the parr 
 may be a hybrid : and that there may be such a hybrid appears from the 
 results of the experiments of Mr. Shaw ; he states tliat he has succeeded in 
 hatching the ova of the salmon impregnated with the milt of the common 
 river trout. — See "Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing," by Wm. Scrope, Esq. 
 —J. D.] 
 
284 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 thinks, the strongest argument in favour of this little fish being 
 from a cross of two varieties, or races, which may be the case, 
 and yet the fish be capable of breeding, and gaining this cha- 
 racter of a peculiar variety ; and he supposes different kinds of 
 parrs may be produced by crosses of the sea trout, the hucho, 
 the lake trout, with the river trouts, or perhaps of the salmon, 
 and this would account for their great numbere, and the various 
 tints of the marks on their sides. If the hucho, as he bolieves, 
 generally spawns late in the winter, it may sometimes meet with 
 trout spawning at the same time. He has seen salmon and 
 trout in the Tweed in a similar state of maturity at the same 
 period ; and, in 1816, he remembers, that he took a large female 
 salmon, that had the period of parturition protracted as late as 
 March. 
 
 ( On the Scolopax, page 106.) 
 
 I shaU say a few words on the congeners of this bird (the 
 solitary snipe), and on the three varieties so much better known 
 in Europe. The woodcock feeds indiscriminately upon earth- 
 worms, small beetles, and various kinds of larvae, and its 
 stomach contains seeds, which I suspect have been taken up in 
 boring among the excrements of cattle ; yet the stomach of this 
 bird has something of the gizzard character, though not so 
 much as that of the, land-rail, which I have found half filled with 
 seeds of grasses, and even containing corn, mixed with may- 
 bugs, earth-worms, grass-hoppers, and caterpillars. The wood- 
 cock, I believe, breeds habitually only in high northern latitudes, 
 yet there are woods in England, particularly one in Sussex, 
 near the borders of Hampshire, in which one or two couple of 
 these birds, it is said, may always be found in summer. I 
 s\ispect these woodcocks are from the offspring of birds which 
 had paired for their passage, but being detained by an accident 
 happening to one of them, staid and raised a young brood in 
 England, and the young ones probably had their instincts 
 altered by the accidents of their being born in England, and 
 being in a place well supplied with food. It is not improbable, 
 that they likewise raised young ones, and that the habit of 
 staying has become hereditary. There can be no doubt, that 
 woodcocks are very constant to their local attachments ; wood- 
 cocks that have been preserved in a particular wood for a 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 285 
 
 winter, always return to it, if possible, the next season. Many 
 woodcocks breed in Norway and Sweden in the great, extensive, 
 and moist pine woods, filled with bogs and morasses, which 
 cover these wild countries, but probably a still greater number 
 breed farther north, in Lapland, Finland, Russia, and Siberia. 
 It is I believe a fable, that they ever raise their young habitually 
 in the high Alpine or mountainous countries of the central or 
 southern parts of Europe. These countries indeed in summer 
 are very little fitted for their feeding ; they cannot bore where 
 it is either dry or frosty, and the glacier, as well as the arid 
 sand or rock, are equally unfitted for their haunts. They leave 
 the north with the first frost, and travel slowly south till they 
 come to their accustomed winter quarters ; they do not usually 
 make a quick voyage, but fly from wood to wood, reposing and 
 feeding on their journey ; they prefer for their haunts, woods 
 near marshes or morasses ; they hide themselves under thick" 
 bushes in the day, and fly abroad to feed in the dusk of the 
 evening. A laurel, or holly-bush, is a favourite place for their 
 repose : the thick and varnished leaves of these trees prevents 
 the radiation of heat from the soil, and they are less affected by 
 the refrigerating influence of a clear sky, so that they afford a 
 warm seat for the woodcock. Woodcocks usually begin to fly 
 north on the first approach of spring, and their flights are 
 generally longer, and their rests fewer, at this season than in 
 the autumn. In the autumn they are driven from the north to 
 the south by the want of food, and they stop wherever they can 
 find food. In the spring, there is the influence of another 
 powerful instinct added to this, the sexual feeling. They 
 migrate in pairs, and pass as speedily as possible to the place 
 where they are likely to find food, and to raise their young, and 
 of which the old birds have already had the experience of 
 former years. Scarcely any woodcocks winter in any part of 
 Germany. In France there are a few found, particularly in the 
 southern provinces, and in Normandy and Brittany. The woods 
 of England, especially of the west and south, contain always a 
 certain quantity of woodcocks, but there are far more in the 
 moist soil and warmer climate of Ireland ; but in the woods of 
 southern Italy and Greece, near marshes, they are far more 
 abundant ; and they extend in quantities over the Greek Islands, 
 Asia Minor, and northern Africa. 
 
" 2S6 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 The snipe is one of the most generally distributed birds 
 belonging to Europe. It feeds upon almost every kind of worm, 
 or larva, and, as I have said before, its stomach sometimes con- 
 tains seeds and rice ; it prefei"S a country cold in the summer to 
 breed in ; but wherever there is much fluid water, and gi'eat 
 morasses, this bird is almost certain to be found. Its nest is 
 very inartificial, its eggs large, and the young ones soon become 
 of an enoraious size, being, often before they can fly, larger than 
 their parents. Two young ones are usually the number in a nest, 
 but I have seen three. The old birds are exceedingly attached 
 to their offspring, and if any one approach near the nest, they 
 make a loud and drumming noise above the head, as if to divert 
 the attention of the intruder. A few snipes always breed in the 
 marshes of England and Scotland, but a far greater number 
 retire for this purpose to the Hebrides and the Orkneys. In the 
 heather surrounding a small lake in the island of Hoy, in the 
 Orkneys, I found in the month of August, in 1817, the nests of 
 ten or twelve couple of snipes. I was grouse-shooting, and my 
 dog continually pointed them, and, as there were sometimes 
 three young ones and two old ones in the nest, the scent was 
 very powerful. From accident of the season these snipes were 
 very late in being hatched, for they usually fly before the middle 
 of July; but this year, even as late as the 15th of August, there 
 were many young snipes that had not yet their wing feathers. 
 Snipes are usually fattest in frosty weather, which, I believe, is 
 owing to this, that in such weather they haunt only warm 
 springs, where worms are abundant, and they do not ^villingly 
 quit these places, so that they have plenty of nourishment and 
 rest, both circumstances favourable to fat. In wet, open 
 weather, they are often obUged to make long flights, and their 
 food is more distributed. The jack-snipe feeds upon smaller 
 insects than the snipe : small white lan^ae, such as are found in 
 black bogs, are its favourite food, but I have generally found 
 seeds in its stomach, once hemp-seeds, and always gravel. I 
 know not where the jack-snipe breeds, but I suspect far north. 
 I never saw their nest or young ones in Germany, Fi'ance, 
 Hungary, lUyria, or the British Islands. The common snipe 
 breeds in great quantities in the extensive mai^hes of Hungary 
 and Illyria ; but I do not think the jack-snipe breeds there, for, 
 even in July and August, with the first very dry weather, many 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 287 
 
 snipes, with ducks and teal, come into the marshes in the south 
 of Illyria, but the jack-snipe is always later in its passage, later 
 even than the double-snipe, or the woodcock. In 1828, in the 
 drains about Laybach, in Illyria, common snipes were seen in 
 the middle of July. The first double snipes appeared the first 
 week in September, when likewise woodcocks were seen ; the 
 first jack-snipe did not appear till three weeks later than the 29th 
 of September. I was informed at Copenhagen, that the jack-snipe 
 certainly breeds in Zeeland, and I saw a nest with its eggs, said 
 to be from the island of Sandholm, opposite Copenhagen, and I 
 have no doubt that this bird and the double-snipe sometimes 
 make their nests in the marshes of Holstein and Hanover. An 
 excellent sportsman and good observer informs me, that, in the 
 great royal decoy, or marsh-preserve, near Hanover, he has had 
 ocular proofs of double-snipes being raised from the nest there ; 
 but these birds require solitude and perfect quiet, and, as their 
 food is peculiar, they demand a great extent of marshy meadow. 
 Their stomach is the thinnest amongst birds of the scolopax 
 tribe, and, as I have said before, their food seems to be entirely 
 the larvae of the tipidse, or congenerous flies. 
 
 i^On the Vitality of Fish, page 10.) 
 
 The propriety of avoiding the too common practice of 
 allowing the fish caught to die slowly, is pointed out. The 
 experienced angler knows well, that by dislocating the spine of 
 small fish, or by a blow on the head of the larger, death or loss 
 of sensation is immediately produced. If not so treated, a trout 
 may live an hour or two after having been taken from the water, 
 — a retention of life chiefly indicated by the action of its gill- 
 covers, — an action connected with the aeration of the blood, 
 equivalent to respiration. The power of sustaining life out of 
 water, and in water of different qualities, varies remarkably in 
 different species of fish. The carp, we are assured, may be fed 
 and fattened out of water, provided it be kept moist. The eel 
 has almost the same power of supporting life in a moist atmo- 
 sphere. The trout, like the salmon, can pass from fresh to salt 
 water, and from the latter to the former, with impunity.* The 
 
 [* I have found a small trout, immersed as soon as caught in a solution of 
 common salt of sp. gr. 1022, which is weaker than sea water, live as long as 
 
288 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 torpedo, on the contrary, is instantly killed by removal from salt 
 to fresh water, even more rapidly than if left exposed to the 
 atmosphere. Such differences, so strongly marked, are deserving 
 of the attention of the physiologist. — J. D. 
 
 ( On the Senses of Fishes, page 26.) 
 
 That fishes have the sense of smell, may be inferred from 
 the structure of their nostrils, as well as from the fact 
 mentioned in note, page 26. Munro, in his work on "The 
 Structure and Physiology of Fishes," published in 1785, rea- 
 soning from the ample and peculiar manner in which these 
 parts are supplied with olfactory nerves, came to the conclu- 
 sion "that they (fishes) are much more sensible of odorous 
 bodies dissolved in water, and applied by its medium, than 
 we should be, if the application of the object was to be 
 made to an organ of smell through the same medium." The 
 statement of the author, in page 26, founded, probably, on 
 analogy, " that the principal use of the nostrils in fishes is to 
 assist the propulsion of water through the gills, for performing 
 the office of respiration," is not borne out by the structure of 
 the parts. Each nostril has commonly two external apertures. 
 They are well marked in the Salmonidae — one free, the anterior, 
 for the admission of water to the plicated membrane on which 
 the nerve of smell is distributed ; the other, the posterior, 
 often valvular, by which the water passes out. The absence, 
 indeed, of such an opening of communication between the nos- 
 trils and pharynx, is one of the characteristics by which fishes 
 and reptiles in their greatest generality are distinguished. 
 
 "VMiether fishes have the sense of taste, has been held to be 
 doubtful, as papillae, it is said, have not yet been detected in 
 their tongues. But in considering the question, it should be 
 kept in mind that this sense has been enjoyed without papillae, 
 without a tongue (see the well-authenticated case recorded in 
 the Phil. Trans. 1742 and 1747), and that it is probable it is 
 more or less perceived whenever there are branches of the gus- 
 
 if put into an equal quantity of fresh water ; whilst another immersed in a 
 solution of higher sp. gr., viz. 1048, which is much salter than sea water, died 
 in a few minutes, as did also a young parr similarly treated.— J. D.] 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 289 
 
 tatory nerves. Now, as fishes are not destitute of these nerves, 
 it may be inferred they are not without the power belonging to 
 them. Reflecting, however, on the general structure of their 
 mouth, it seems likely that the sense is no wise refined, and is 
 rather for discrimination than enjoyment, and that commonly 
 it has little attention paid to it. Their manner of feeding, too, 
 coarse as it is (swallowing commonly entire articles of food, — 
 regardless, seemingly, whether dead or alive, — as live insects are 
 often met with in the stomach of the trout), favours the inference. 
 A friend of mine, an acute observer, in conversation on this sub- 
 ject, remarked to me, " If you watch a trout from a bridge, you 
 will see that he takes into his mouth, as it were for trial, all 
 small floating objects within his reach, whether fit or unfit to 
 administer to his nourishment, rejecting the latter, retaining and 
 swallowing only the former." And, I may add, the experienced 
 angler acts as if aware of this, knowing how little is his chance 
 of success, unless he be on the alert, with eye intent and hand 
 ready to strike the instant the fish seizes his fly. 
 
 As regards another sense — that of hearing, not alluded to 
 by the author — there can be no doubt that it is possessed by 
 fishes, as they have an auditory apparatus and nerves, and as 
 the medium they inhabit is capable of conveying the vibrations 
 required to act on these nerves. Angling being truly " the con- 
 templative man's recreation," the avoidance of noise b}^ the 
 river-side need not be exhorted; nor need gentle sounds — all 
 such as are not unsuitable to the time and occasion — be appre- 
 hended ; as, from the structure of the ear of fishes, it may be 
 inferred that their organ of hearing is a dull one, fitted, as we 
 find everything in nature is, to the circumstances and wants of 
 the creature. Walton, in his " Complete Angler," adduces in- 
 stances from Bacon, Pliny, and others, in proof of fishes having 
 the power of hearing, adding, " It shall be a rule for me to make 
 as little noise as I can when I am fishing, until Sir Francis Bacon 
 be confuted, which I shall give any man leave to do ; " con- 
 cluding with the exhortation that anglers " should be patient, 
 and forbear swearing, lest they be heard, and catch no fish." 
 
 Of all the senses, that of sight seems to be possessed in the 
 highest degree of acuteness and power by fishes, especially the 
 Salmonidse, judging from the structure of their eyes and the 
 manner in which they are alarmed by passing objects such as 
 
 u 
 
290 ADDITIONAL NOTES, 
 
 they are not familiar with, or know only as enemies. By means of 
 three powerful muscles, their movable eyes can be either with- 
 drawn into their deep sockets or made more prominent, and can 
 be turned in any direction ; and the lens, from its yielding 
 nature, may have its form — ^that of a perfect sphere — more or 
 less changed, more or less compressed and flattened ; and, in 
 addition to a fine mechanism of the ball in its several parts, the 
 eye has a very large optic nerve of a magnitude, indeed, extrar 
 ordinary compared with the small mass of brain. 
 
 For success in angling, too much attention cannot be paid to 
 the power of sight of the fishes of this family. As a general rule, 
 it may be laid down, that he who fishes with the longest line — 
 who can keep most out of sight, will take the largest number, 
 and fish of the largest size. Even when the Ught is obscure, as 
 at the time of advanced summer twilight, the visual faculty of 
 the trout seems to be little less powerful than in broad daylight, 
 as if it had the power — ^which it probably possesses — of adapt- 
 ing its eye to the degree of light ; a power, it may be remarked, 
 very suitable to its habits of feeding at night as well as by 
 day.— J. D. 
 
 {On the Colouring of the Salmonidce, page 36.) 
 
 It has been observed that the colouring of the trout as 
 well as its form depends a good deal on its condition; that 
 when well fed, it has a smaller head and more rounded body, 
 and a more silvery lustre. The smaller head and more rounded 
 and larger body — considered merely propoi-tional, — [the latter 
 liable to augmentation from deposition of fat, fi'om which the 
 other is exempt,] requires no comment. The more silvery hue 
 of the well-fed fish seems to depend on many circumstances 
 connected with its organisation, especially its scales and other 
 integumentary parts, and the adipose matter beneath them. The 
 scales have some resemblance to pearls in their composition, 
 consisting of membrane not soluble in muriatic acid, and 
 destructible by fire, and of phosphate of lime, soluble in the acid 
 and resisting the fire. After the separation of the phosphate of 
 lime by an acid, or of the animal matter by fire, the form of the 
 scale remains with its peculiar linear markings, denoting a con* 
 centric gro\\i;h, but the pearly lustre in each instance is lost. 
 The scale, undoubtedly, is one cause of the silvery hue, and, 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 291 
 
 most of all, I believe its outer lamina; for if the scales be 
 triturated so as to rub off this portion, their lustre is diminished ; 
 and if incinerated — some that have been triturated before 
 exposure to fire, others that have not been so treated — a dif- 
 ference will be perceived in them on microscopical examination ; 
 those not triturated seem to be composed of a milky white part 
 attached to another of a light brownish hue, whilst those that 
 have been triturated consist, with few exceptions, of the latter. 
 The brownish hue seems, from the trials I have made on it, to 
 be owing to the presence of a minute portion of iron. The 
 scales, it must be kept in mind, are more or less transparent, 
 allowing the colouring matter, on which the hues and spottings 
 of the fish depend, to be seen through them. Accordingly, as 
 this subjacent colouring matter varies in its hues, so will the 
 general colour of the fish vary. In well-fed fish, the abdomen 
 of which is so silvery, there is both on the outer and inner 
 surface of the cutis a layer of white matter reflecting a pearly 
 lustre ; and the cutis itself being transparent, it is to this matter 
 as much as to the scales, or perhaps even more, that the silvery 
 hue of the part is owing. It is instructive to examine the skin 
 in part deprived of its scales, and in part with them remaining 
 on, especially if dried on glass. So prepared, it is manifest how 
 little the scales have to do with its colouring, and the degree in 
 which they are concerned with its lustre. These remarks are 
 derived from the examination of the scales of the smolt and of 
 the young trout, and are applicable I believe to those of the full- 
 grown fish of each kind. In the instance of the full-grown 
 salmon, that portion of the fish which is most silvery, owes its 
 lustre in great measure to the abundance of scales and the 
 manner in which they overlap ; where thickest, two or three, 
 one over the other, may be detached from the same spot. When 
 their animal matter is consumed by fire, and they are viewed 
 under the microscope, their upper surface is seen to be more 
 brilliant than their under, and to exhibit a linear or ridgy 
 structure which is hardly, if at all, to be seen in the under. 
 When the phosphate of lime is removed by an acid, the appear- 
 ance under the microscope is such as to give the idea in accord- 
 ance with the preceding, that there is forming on the upper 
 surface a furrowed layer or lamina which the under is destitute 
 of, and less lustrous and pearly in consequence. — J. D. 
 
 u2 
 
292 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 {On the Structure of Stomach of the Gillaroo Trout, page 54.) 
 
 The author, in noticing the stomach of the gillaroo or 
 gizzard trout, remarks that it has been improperly compared 
 to a fowl's. According to Henry Watson and John Hunter, 
 who first described it, it differs from the stomach of the 
 common trout principally in the circumstance of its being 
 thicker. Hunter found the one he examined two-thirds thicker, 
 vnih an inner, fine, villous coat. Watson describes it as com- 
 posed of three coats, an internal, a middle, and an external one. 
 "The external," he states, "is a kind of peritoneal covering 
 common to the stomach, intestines, and other viscera. The 
 middle coat appears to be of a fibrous muscular texture, pretty 
 thick in flesh, stronger than in the salmon, and of a yellowish 
 colour. The internal coat has a rough but not rugous surface. 
 It is spongy and perhaps glandular, with a kind of honeycomb 
 texture and strong villi, a little similar to the internal appearance 
 of the gall bladder in the human subject." He adds that it will 
 not bear any comparison w^ith the gizzard of birds of the galli- 
 naceous kind, which has powerful muscles with tendons, and a 
 thick homy inner lining — in brief, a grinding apparatus. Hunter 
 and Watson's papers are in the Phil. Trans, for 1774 ; and in the 
 same volume and preceding them is one by Daines Barrington, 
 in which the peculiarity of the gillaroo trout is first noticed. 
 He says, " The first time I ever happened to hear of this singular 
 fish, was from an Irish judge, who being on the Connaught 
 circuit at Ballinrobe, in the county of Mayo, expressed his 
 incredulity \sdth regard to their existence, but was obliged to 
 pay the common Irish wager of a rump of beef and a dozen of 
 claret, on three or four being produced the next day from a 
 neighbouring lake." From what he afterwards mentions, it 
 would appear that the stomach of this trout in Ireland was at 
 that time considered a delicacy, " white, and excellent eating." 
 He says, " I have been informed by Lord Louth, that he had 
 seen a small dish, consisting merely of such gizzards, at an Irish 
 table in Galway ; and I could corroborate this fact, was it neces- 
 sary, by the testimony of an Irish archbishop." In notes 
 appended to Harrington's paper, mention is made of a white 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 293 
 
 and red gillaroo, in Lough Derg, the former with black spots on 
 it, the latter with red. The white is described as the smallest 
 and the better eating, the size varying from two to twelve pounds. 
 The author, page 55, speaks of the gillaroo as " a sort of link 
 between the trout and charr," from a certain resemblance of 
 stomach. The stomach of the charr, it is worthy of remark, 
 varies, it may be inferred, with the quality of its food ; in many 
 instances I have found it even thinner in its coats than that of 
 the common trout. — J. 1). 
 
 {On the Salmon and Parr, page 59.) 
 
 Since "Salmonia" was first published, so much additional 
 information has been obtained, respecting the salmon, in its 
 early stage, its growth, and changes, that the question, so much 
 agitated, whether the Parr is a young salmon or a distinct 
 species, may be considered now as satisfactorily solved. 
 
 The inquirers to whom we are most indebted for facts on the 
 subject, are Mr. Shaw and Mr. Young. The conclusions at 
 which they have arrived, the result of their observations, may 
 be briefly noticed. 
 
 According to Mr. Shaw, who took the lead in the inquiry, the 
 parr is a young salmon, or a young sea-trout (distinguishable, he 
 thinks, by certain peculiarities *), which becomes a smolt, or 
 acquires the silvery hue of the adult fish, though remaining of 
 small size, towards the end of the second year of river life, 
 preparatory to migrating seaward. 
 
 According to Mr. Young, the salmon is a fresh-water fish, and 
 is an inhabitant of fresh water, on an average, ten months out of 
 the twelve, descending only to the sea (judging from the effect) 
 for the purpose of that high feeding essential to its growth, and 
 often returning to the river before its ova are developed ; the 
 
 * The smolts of the salmon, and of the sea-troiit of the Solway, he states, 
 do not differ in size, but in some respects in colour, most marked in the fins, 
 the extremities of the pectoral fins of the sea-trout smolt being orange, with 
 a tendency to the same colour in the ends of the dorsal and caudal rays, 
 whence this smolt is there called the orange fin. 
 
 It would appear from his observations that the female sea-trout can have 
 mature ova, and breed without descending to the sea, and that a certain 
 rumber actually do so, without assuming their silvery migratory dx'css, thus 
 approximating to the common trout. 
 
294 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 tiine required for whicli, may be from four to six months. Its 
 spawning season, he states, extends over six months, commencing 
 about the middle of September, and ending about the middle of 
 March; the height of the process being from the middle of 
 ^Kovember to the middle of December, — the earlier the safer, 
 each fish spawning where it had been bred, male and female 
 associated, side by side, but not in contact, — the spawn being 
 shed on the ova, immediately on exclusion, both fishes co- 
 operating in making the spawn-bed in the gravel, and in 
 covering it as soon as laid. This operation on the part of the 
 male and female occupies from five to ten days. The time of 
 hatching the ova he estimates at from one hundred to one hun- 
 dred and forty days, varying with the temperature of the water. 
 During the greater part of the fii^t month, the young fish, then 
 hai'dly an inch long (thi'ee quarters of an inch when first pro- 
 duced), mainly depends for its support on the yolk contained in 
 the vitelline sac, which, about the end of that time, ceases to be 
 seen externally. After two months, it loses its early peculiarities, 
 the most marked of wliich is a posterior surrounding marginal 
 fin, very like that of the tadpole ; now, its transverse markings 
 (bars) begin to appear. At four months it is about two inches in 
 length ; at six, about three ; at eight and nine, it is very little 
 lai'ger, but thicker ; at ten, it is from three to three and a half, 
 when its transverse bars begin to disappear, — the silvery scales, 
 those of the smolt covering and obscuring them; finally, at 
 twelve months, it is from four to six inches, on an avei^e about 
 five, and is now a smolt, with its silvery migratory coat, and 
 commonly migrates to the sea, descending in small shoals, from 
 the middle of April to the middle of May. After remaining 
 about eight weeks in salt water, it returns a grilse, vastly in- 
 creased in size, varpng in weight, according to the time it has 
 remained in the sea, from three to eight pounds. 
 
 Mr. ShaVs observations on the salmon are to be found in the 
 14 th vol. of the " Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," 
 and his observations on the sea-trout, in the 15th vol. of the 
 same publication ; Mr. Young's, on the salmon, in the last-men- 
 tioned volume, and more in detail in his " Natural History of the 
 Salmon." Happily they agree in their general statements, espe- 
 cially in relation to the time required for the maturation of the 
 Qva — the production of the young fish. The circumstance of 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTEg. 295 
 
 most importance about which they differ, is as to the time that 
 the yomig salmon remains in fresh water, before migrating to 
 the sea ; Mr. Shaw, as already mentioned, fixing the period at 
 two years— Mr. Young at one year. This is a point that needs 
 further inquiry. Comparing Mr. Shaw's results with those of 
 Mr. Young, — relying, as I think we may, on the accuracy of each, 
 — ^we have the assurance of the latter regarding the accuracy of 
 the former, — the conclusion seems probable, that in some rivers 
 the young salmon becomes fit to migrate, and does migrate after 
 twelve months — reckoning from the time of its birth — and in 
 others, not till double that period ; a difference, supposing it to 
 exist, depending, it may be, on season of spawning, whether 
 early or late, temperature of water, supply of food, and, perhaps, 
 peculiarity of fish, as to rate of growth. Mr. Shaw mentions a 
 few instances in which the parr assumed its migratory dress at 
 the age of twelve months, and this was in water of somewhat 
 higher temperature than ordinary. Mr. Young attributes the 
 earlier migration of the fish, he observed, to an influence, hasten- 
 ing the smolt-change, derived from proximity to the sea, but of 
 what kind he does not explain. From such information as I 
 have been able to collect, the shorter period is that observed by 
 the salmon-fry, in the rivers of Westmoreland and Cumberland, 
 generally in accordance with Mr. Young's statements. Here, as 
 commonly elsewhere, the parr, or brandling season, is in summer 
 and autumn ; the smolt or smelt season in spring. In St. John's 
 Beck, astream which flows out of Thirl mere, and is, comparatively, 
 but little variable as to temperature and height, I have never yet 
 met with a single brandling in April, and with a few only in the 
 latter part of May, nor with a single smolt during the summer, 
 autumn, and winter months. In the Duddon and Irt rivers, 
 subject to great variation of temperature and volume of water, 
 the seasons of the parr and smolt are the same as in the last- 
 mentioned river ; but in spring, amongst the smolts, a parr may 
 occasionally be taken, probably the offspring of a late, a spring- 
 breeder of the year preceding. 
 
 It is right, however, to mention, that most of the experienced 
 fishermen on these rivers are in favour of the two years' abiding 
 of the young of the salmon in fresh water ; and the same opinion, 
 I am informed, prevails on the subject amongst the fishermen of 
 the Welsh salmon rivers ; and in proof of its correctness, it is 
 
296 ADDITIONAL NOTiS. 
 
 stated, as I have been informed by Mr. Yarrell, that in rivers in 
 which the smolts (supposed to be of two yeai-s) descend to tne 
 sea in April and May, there are to be met with in July and 
 August two apparently distinct broods, judging from difference 
 in size, — a larger and a smaller, — the larger taking the artificial 
 fly, and, in consequence, well known to anglers, varying from 
 four to seven inches in length ; the smaller, little kno\\Ti, from 
 not taking the artificial fly, not exceeding in length from two to 
 two and a half inches. It may be said that these smaller fish are 
 from ova laid early in the spring, the lai-ger from ova deposited 
 late in the autumn. The difficulty of deciding which inference 
 is the true one, in great part arises from not knowing the rate of 
 growth of the young fish in different rivers and under different 
 circumstances, that seeming in great measure to depend on its 
 supply of food. Judging from the analogy of the trout, and the 
 rapid growth of the young salmon after entering the sea, it is 
 easy to imagine that a paiT, well fed, may attain its full average 
 river-size in a few months ; or, on the contrary, if ill fed, may 
 be checked in its growth, and be stationary in its size for many 
 months. The mountain-brook trout is an instance of the slow* 
 growth and diminutive size, inhabiting waters where there is 
 little and precarious food ; the river or lake trout, feeding plen- 
 tifully and growing rapidly, is an instance of the other kind. I 
 have heard it asserted by an experienced keeper, that he could, 
 by a peculiar mode of feeding, augment a trout in weight two 
 pounds in as many months, viz. by suspending a dead rabbit 
 from a bi-anch of a tree over the haimts of the trout. The 
 rabbit, he said, became fly-blown, the maggots resulting fell 
 into the river, and the trout feeding on them, grew and fixttened 
 thus rapidly. 
 
 But whether the young fish be one or two years, or an inter- 
 mediate period or a longer period, in assuming the smolt form, 
 it now seems tolerably well proved that the testes of the young 
 salmon are fully developed, so as to be capable of exercising a 
 fertilising influence, before descending to the sea ; but that the 
 ovaries are later in their growth, and the ova are not mature till 
 the fish has returned from the sea as a grilse. And does not this 
 wan*ant the conclusion, that the ova of the latter are fertilised 
 by the sperm of the former 1 Such observations as I have made 
 in examining the testes and ovaries of the salmon-fry at different 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 29? 
 
 seasons are in favour of it. Thus, in the autumn and beginning 
 of winter, I have found in the parr the milt voluminous, and 
 ready, or nearly ready, to be shed ;* whilst in the spring, in the 
 smolts, I have hardly found a vestige of it, as if it had been shed. 
 On the contrary, in the female, at the former period, I have 
 found the ovaries very small, — the ovaries rarely sufficiently 
 advanced to appear granular, but gradually, though very slowly, 
 increasing in volume towards spring, — so slowly, indeed, that 
 when prepared to migrate, in the majority of females they are 
 hardly granular. That in the grilse the ova are matured, — that 
 it, after its first return from the sea, is a breeding fish, appears 
 to be proved beyond doubt. 
 
 All the Salmonidse, it would appear, breed early in life, size 
 of body being little^ concerned with the faculty of breeding. Nor 
 is this surprising, when we reflect that the ova and the spermato- 
 zoa are of the same magnitude, whether the product of fish in 
 early life or in advanced, the great difference being as to number. 
 This precocity is a happy circumstance, and designed, no doubt, 
 to secure the continuance of the species, in so many ways endan- 
 gered. These remarks may help to make accord Mr. Shaw's and 
 Mr. Young's observations : one, that the male parr mates or 
 follows the old female salmon, when breeding, to secure the 
 impregnation of her ova ; the other, that the female prefers a 
 male of about her own age, and takes no note of the parrs, even 
 selecting a trout for her mate, in case of need, not being able to 
 find a salmon ; and that the ova of the salmon can be fertilised 
 by the sperm of the trout, we are assured by Mr. Shaw, after 
 trial of its influence. The subject is a curious and important 
 one. Analogies may be found amongst other animals, and even 
 amongst some considered of higher organisation. The goat and 
 the sheep may be mentioned as instances. Like the salmon and 
 trout, they breed together ; like them, the male is more preco- 
 
 * Of tliree parrs taken in St. John's Beck, in the first week of September, 
 1850, the milt of one— the entire fish — Aveighing 525 grs. and measnring 
 5.7 inches in length, was 114 grs, ; of another, weighing 327 grs. and mea- 
 suring 4.6 inches, was 52 grs.; of a third, weighing 445 grs. and measuring 
 5.5 inches, was 84 grs. In these instances, though the milt was propor- 
 tionally so voluminous, it was not even in the first quite mature, not yielding 
 on pressure the milky fluid characteristic of its maturity. Five weeks later, 
 I have taken the parr in the same stream, with its testes arrived at this 
 stage of maturity ; others, taken at the same time, were found in various 
 degrees less so. 
 
298 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 cious than the female, and is capable of exercising the generative 
 function long before the attainment of full growth, even as early 
 as its fourth month, and of exercising it with effect, like the 
 parr, on the ova of its parent, when next needed. (See a paper 
 communicated by me on the early generative power of the kid, in 
 the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society," for May, 1847.) 
 
 That the parr, before the facts referred to were brought to 
 light, should have been considered a distinct species, is not to 
 be wondered at, especially taking into accoimt that there are 
 other differences (comparing the parr and the smolt) besides 
 those already mentioned, as the situation of the fins, and the 
 form of body and its proportions. In the smolt, the dorsal fin 
 is nearer the head than in the parr, and is comparatively larger 
 than that of the parr, whilst its general foftn is more delicate 
 and elongated ; but how small are these differences by the side 
 of the greater which we witness in the young of so many other 
 animals during their period of growiih, and which, no doubt, had 
 they been examined under circumstances like those under which 
 the parr was first noticed, might have given them claim, however 
 false, to be ranked as species — distinct adult species. — J. D. 
 
 (Queries relative to the Natural History of the Trout, page 64.) 
 
 The early history of the common trout in minute and exact 
 detail is yet a desideratum. Precise observations on its breeding- 
 period, on the development of its ova, and the rate of growi;h of 
 the young fish, like those made by Mr. Shaw and Mr. Young on 
 the salmon, are needed, and would be especially useful in rela- 
 tion to the stocking and preserving of trout-streams, and the fair 
 sport of the angler. Were such obsen^ations made on fish, under 
 different circumstances, as to temperature of water, quality and 
 quantity of food, their value would be greatly increased. The 
 widest limit of the spawning season of the trout, in the same 
 river, and whether it varies materially in different rivei-s, remain 
 yet to be determined ; and also whether it breeds, as Bloch asserts, 
 every year, or, more commonly, every second year, and also at 
 what age it has the power of propagating. That its spawning 
 season extends over several months, is certain; and also, that in 
 most of our rivers it begins in September, is at its height in the 
 latter end of October and beginning of November, and does not 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 299 
 
 end till December, or later. It is certain, too, judging from an 
 examination of the testes and ovaries during the breeding-time, 
 that, as in the instance of the salmon, several days are required 
 for the lajdng of the ova. Further, it is well ascertained, that 
 during the whole of this period, that is, from September till 
 December, many trouts are found either with the ovaries and 
 testes only just visible, or so little developed as not to admit 
 of the conclusion of their spawning till the following season. 
 These fish are commonly not out of condition, like those that 
 are breeding ; and are to be taken, not where the latter most 
 resort to — the small streams, the feeders of the lakes and rivers 
 — ^but in the lakes and rivers themselves ; — ^in brief, in their old 
 haunts. This separation of breeders and non-breeders may be 
 \dewed as a happy provision of nature for the preservation of 
 the species, inasmuch as the latter feed greedily on the ova of 
 the former, and, w^ere they together, would prove very destruc- 
 ■ tive of roe — enemies of their own kind, not less than of the 
 nobler salmon in its spawning-bed, as is well insisted on by 
 Mr. Young. Probably, the trout is capable of propagating when 
 two years old, and of attaining, if well fed, a goodly size at that 
 age. — J. D. 
 
 (On {he Spawning Localities of the Charr, page 70.) 
 
 The author states that "the charr spawns in still, and the 
 " trout in running water." By a gentleman, an able naturalist, 
 who has paid great attention to the history of the Salmonidaj, 
 but without opportunities of making special observations 
 on the breeding of the charr, I have heard it asserted that 
 this statement is erroneous, he maintaining that the charr, like 
 the trout, spawns only in streams. This is a question which 
 must be determined not by analogy but by experience. The 
 information I have been able to collect in the Lake district, 
 where the charr is so common, accords not with his view but 
 with the author's. I have been assured by experienced fisher- 
 men, whose accuracy I cannot doubt, that the ova of this fish 
 have been found on the shallow banks in the lake of Winder- 
 mere, — spots where the charr resorts in great numbers during 
 the spawning season. Moreover, that part of the Brathay — a 
 river that flows into Windermere — another great spawning-place 
 of the charr, well described by Mr. Yarrell, in his " History of 
 
300 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 British Fishes" — is a pool, a miniature lake, where the water can 
 be little more in motion — more impregnated with air — than in 
 the lake itself, rarely an hour unruffled by the wind. In Hawes 
 Water, in which the charr, the trout, and the shelley are all 
 abundant — it being one of the few Westmoreland lakes in which 
 poaching is prevented — the chan', I have been informed, breeds 
 only in the lake : the keeper, in the course of six years' observa- 
 tion, never knew or heard of an instance of a single charr having 
 been taken in any of the tiibutaiy streams — the breeding-streams 
 of the trouts. A figure of the chan^ of this lake is given in page 
 260. It is, probably, merely a variety of the northern charr, 
 owing its peculiarities to local circumstances. It is proportion- 
 ally a much larger fish than the northern charr, or that of Win- 
 dermere, Buttermere, and Coniston Water. It difiei^, too, in 
 rising freely at the fly. In one day, I was told, two anglers in 
 Hawes Water took nine dozen, without taking a smgle trout. 
 And, when in season, it is less fat, and has, I think, a more deli- 
 cate flavour. The charr of Buttermere, and of its neighbouring 
 lake, Crummock Water, I have also been assured, never enters 
 the tributary rivers, and breeds only in the lakes ; and it, 
 whether of Buttermere or Crummock Water, closely resembles 
 the charr of Windermere. Yet it has its pecuUarities. Though 
 similar in general form and colouring, it has a thicker stomach 
 than the charr of Windemiere ; has (a specimen that I examined) 
 a rose-coloured air-bladder, and, when of full size, is said never 
 to be taken with a fly or any bait, and even when only half- 
 grown, and less, is but rarely taken with the fly. I have ob- 
 tamed similar information relative to the breeding-places of the 
 charr in other two lakes of the same district, viz., Coniston 
 Water and Ulles Water ; * and hence leading to the conclusion 
 that still water rather than running is most appropriate to it, and 
 that its ever resorting to a river, as in the instance of the sluggish 
 part of the Brathay, is to be held as an exception. — J. D. 
 
 (On the Young Trout on quitting the Egg, page 71.) 
 
 It is stated by the author, that the young trout, after burst- 
 ing the egg, when it subsists on the supply of food by nature 
 
 * Since mines have been opened in the vicinity of these lakes, the charr 
 in the former has become scarce ; and it is no longer found in the latter. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 301 
 
 provided in its yolk-bag, may for some days, as requiring 
 no food ab externa, be easily conveyed from place to place 
 in confined portions of fresh water. Judging from the analogy 
 of the young salmon, and from what I have learned respect- 
 ing the young trout, its time of easy and safe conveyance 
 may be extended to a few weeks, at least five and probably six 
 or seven. We are informed by Mr. Young, in his " History of 
 the Salmon," that the internal yolk-bag protruding from the 
 abdomen of the young fish, does not disappear till the end of 
 the fifth week, reckoning from the time of hatching ; nor, I 
 believe, does it disappear earlier in the instance of the trout. 
 Moreover, as in the young of those cartilaginous fishes which 
 have been examined, the internal yolk-bag has been found to 
 increase as the external has diminished, reasoning from analogy, 
 it may be inferred that the same probably occurs in the instance of 
 the Salmonidse, and consequently that they have included within 
 themselves a store of food in the inner yolk-bag, sufficient to 
 support them altogether or in part, considerably beyond the fifth 
 week. In a young torpedo which I examined when six months 
 old, a vestige of the inner yolk was even then discoverable. There 
 are other circumstances which may be mentioned as favourable 
 to the transport of fishes shortly after hatching, viz. their greater 
 irritability and tenacity of life, denoted by the length of time 
 their heart continues to act when removed from the body, and 
 the season of the year, — ^the winter season, when the colder 
 water has a larger proportion of atmospheric air, and retains 
 it longer than the warmer water of a milder season. — J. D. 
 
 (On the Digestive Powers of the Salmonidce, page 112.) 
 
 The author alludes to the digestion of the salmon as being 
 very quick. It appears to be so in all the Salmonidce, and is 
 probably connected with power of rapid growth, which is 
 so remarkable in the majority of them, when abundantly 
 supplied with food. Proof of such quickness of digestion 
 is often afforded in the dead fish ; often and often I have 
 found in the trout and salmon-fry that portion of its abdominal 
 parietes, corresponding to the lower part of the stomach, and 
 the upper part of the intestine, reduced to a soft, pulpy state, 
 approaching to chyme, and not unfrequently a portion, also, of 
 
302 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 the stomach itself so changed, — effects, it may be infeiTed, of the 
 gastric fluid, as explained by John Hmiter, in his well-known 
 paper, " On the digestion of the stomach after death." In ac- 
 cordance with the quickness of digestion and facihty of assimi- 
 lation is, I believe, the manner in which the kidneys perform 
 their function. They appear to be comparatively inactive, 
 thereby allowing the greater portion of the azotised matter of 
 the food to be assimilated, and applied to the growth of the 
 animal. "What a contrast is offered in the excreta of the swallow 
 and trout, when, as in summer, both subsist on flies ! Amongst 
 those of the fish it is difficult to detect the urinary secretion ; 
 whilst in those of the bird it is conspicuous and abundant, con- 
 sisting principally of lithate of ammonia; and this is the more 
 remarkable in the instance of the fish, as it is provided with a 
 uiinary bladder. 
 
 In connexion with the solvent power of the contents of the 
 stomach, and the tendency of the bile in the gall-bladder and the 
 contents of the intestines, readily putrescent, to penetrate and 
 taint, and so injure the flavour of fish, it may be well to caution 
 anglers, who wish to keep the fish they take for the table, to have 
 them eviscerated as soon as possible, and also to have them kept in 
 the coolest place that may be available. A good plan is to have 
 them packed, not in green grass, as is usually done, but rather 
 in dry straw, — diyness rather than moisture being most favour- 
 able to the keeping of them fresh, and on the same principle, 
 their inside should be wiped with a clean cloth before they are 
 packed. — J. D. 
 
 {Eivers suitable to the Grayling, page 178.) 
 
 In confirmation of the greater delicacy of the grayling, as to 
 temperature, compared to the trout, and of its intolerance of 
 great vicissitudes of river-temperature, I may mention, that 
 though this fish is plentiful, even more so than the trout, in the 
 presen- ed parts of the Derbyshu^e Wye and Dein\^ent, it is almost 
 unkno^vn in the Lathkil and the Bradford, tributaries of the 
 Wye, abounding in trout, and as carefully preser\^ed. All 
 attempts to mtroduce it into these streams have failed. Their 
 inaptitude has been attributed to a difference in the quality of 
 their water : it has been said to be harder, more petrifying ; but 
 this I have not been able to confirm by chemical examination — 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 808 
 
 indeed, the water of the Wye proved to be equally hard, if not 
 harder, and to contain a little sulphate of lime, which could not 
 be detected in the water of the Lathkil. The mean difference 
 appeared to me to be in the character of the several rivers, in 
 relation to volume, mode of flowing, and temperature ; the Wye 
 and Derwent being fuller and more constant streams, less liable 
 to be frozen in winter, and unduly heated in summer, — streams, 
 in all respects, like these described by the author, as peculiarly 
 suitable to the grayling ; and further, from the nature of their 
 bottom, insuring a larger and more constant supply of that kind 
 of food, water-snails, larvse, squillse, &c., which the grayling — a 
 fish needing good and plentiful food in winter — seems to require. 
 That the mere chemical nature of the water is not the main 
 ■ cause of the unfitness of the Lathkil for grayling seems to be 
 shown by the circumstance that it enters the lower part of that 
 stream, and even breeds there a little above the junction with 
 the Wye, but does not ascend beyond the first fall, — a fall that 
 the trout readily passes, and which is not, I believe, higher than 
 some in the Wye and Derwent, that the grayling is known to 
 surmount. — J. D. 
 
 ( Use of the Scales of the Eel, page 198.) 
 
 Mention is made of the scales of the eel as likely to facili- 
 tate the progressive motion of this fish when out of water. 
 Considering the nature of these scales, doubt may be enter- 
 tained on this point. From an examination I have made of 
 them, I find they are commonly oval, about the 555th of an 
 inch in their long diameter, symmetrically arranged in com- 
 partments, approaching in form the oval. These may be seen 
 with a common magnifying-glass ; but to distinguish the scales 
 individually, a high magnifying power is required. Their form, 
 I may add, is best seen after a portion of the integuments has 
 been exposed to a charring or incinerating heat. In the latter 
 instance, when the charcoal is consumed their skeleton remains, 
 consisting of phosphate of lime, just perceptibly coloured by 
 peroxide of iron. Now, as these minute scales seem to be 
 adhering closely by their entire surface, and as the skin of the 
 animal is lubricated with viscid mucus, it is not obvious, nor 
 does it seem probable, that they can be of any seiwice for loco- 
 motion in the manner supposed by the author. 
 
^04 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 The idea seemingly entertained by the author in the page 
 next to that last referred to, that the eel, by continued residence 
 in the sea, may acquire the size and be confounded with the 
 conger, does not accord with the best observations of naturalists 
 — most of them made since the publication of Salmonia. That 
 they are distinct species can hardly now be doubted, — even 
 generically they are now held to be distinct. The circimistance 
 that the number of vertebrae in the two differ — in the common 
 fresh- water eel being 116, and in the common conger 156, as 
 stated by Mr. Yarrell, — is a strong proof of their distinctness ; and 
 not less so is the fact (first noticed, I believe, by Sir John 
 Richardson,*) that the conger is destitute of scales. I have 
 examined its skin, in the same manner as the skin of the eel, for 
 scales, and neither before incineration nor after, have I detected 
 any, using a high magnifying power. 
 
 The use of the minute scales of the eel, in all the species of 
 the genus Anguilla, may be considered a problem, comparing 
 them with the allied genera, as they are now constituted, which 
 are without scales, viz., conger, muraena, and ophisurus, and 
 these again with the electrical fishes, the torpedo, gymnotus and 
 silurus, in the skin of which no rudiments even of scales, in the 
 instances I have examined, can be detected. The common and 
 natural idea, that the scales of fishes are destined for defensive 
 armour, is not well accordant wdth these examples, excepting on 
 the supposition that the want of them in the electrical fishes is 
 compensated by the electrical organs of these fishes, and in the 
 others by the thickness and strength of their integuments : in 
 the cutis of the conger I have found on incineration a large pro- 
 portion of phosphate of lime. — J. D. 
 
 ( On the Food of the Shelley^ page 264.) 
 
 The author states that the lavaret, or shelley, is taken only 
 with nets ; that it feeds on vegetables ; and that he had never 
 found in the stomachs of those he had opened either flies or 
 small fishes. The first fish of this kind that I saw taken was 
 with a small fly : this was in Hawes "Water. During nearly half 
 a century only two or three mstances of its being so caught 
 
 • " The Zoology of the Voyage of H. M. S. Erebus and Terror, Part vii. 
 — ^Fishes. By Sir John Richardson.*' 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 305 
 
 were kuown there. In the stomach of this fish — ^a fish abundant 
 in Hawes Water — I found the remains of two or three different 
 kinds of small flies. That it is not oftener taken with a fly is 
 not surprising, when we consider that comparatively large arti- 
 ficial flies are commonly used in lake-fishing, and, moreover, 
 keeping in mind the conformation of its mouth and tongue, 
 without teeth, or, if any (in the one I examined there were a few 
 towards the apex of the tongue and in the upper-lip), so small as 
 to be microscopic. According to Dr. Knox, the vendace of Loch- 
 mabon, which seems to differ very little, if at all, from the 
 shelley, feeds principally on minute entomostracous animals. 
 This has been confirmed by Mr. Yarrell, who found also in the 
 stomachs of some he examined portions of flies. jN'ow, as the 
 structure of its mouth and that of the shelley seem nowise 
 adapted for feeding on vegetables, and I cannot learn that these 
 have been detected in its stomach, it is more than probable that 
 its food is chiefly animal. 
 
 The shelley of Hawes Water, I may add, breeds in the still 
 water of the lake, depositing the ova on aquatic plants. It is 
 never known to run up the tributary streams. The breeding- 
 time of this fish is the autumn. The intelligent keeper at Hawes 
 Water told me that once, in September, he took some of its roe 
 from the " moss " (conferva, &c.) of the lake, which he transferred 
 to a basin, and, by changing the water daily, succeeded in hatch- 
 ing the ova. The yoimg fish, when they first appeared, he 
 described as being hardly half an inch in length, provided with 
 a yolk-bag and a marginal posterior fin, i. e. one connecting the 
 dorsal, caudal, and anal ; after about five weeks they acquired 
 the size of ordinary minnows, with the colouring and decided, 
 unmistakeable character of the shelley. — J. D. 
 
 BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHTTEFRIARS. 
 
MURRAY'S SELECT REPRINTS. 
 
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 ABERCROMBIE ON THE INTELLECTUAL 
 
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 ABERCROMBIE ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
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 ^SOP'S FABLES. By Eev. Thomas James. With 
 
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 LORD BYEON'S COMPLETE POETICAL 
 
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 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE'S TABLE- 
 
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 LOUDON'S INSTRUCTIONS IN GARDENING. 
 
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 REJECTED ADDRESSES. By Horace and James 
 
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 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 
 
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 LOED DERBY'S TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD 
 
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 MR. LAYARD'S POPULAR ACCOUNT OF HIS 
 
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 SIR GARDNER WILKINSON'S MANNERS AND 
 
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 LORD MAHON'S LIFE OF CONDE THE GREAT. 
 
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 BENEDICITE; or, Song of the Theee Children. 
 
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 INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHIES. By Samuel Smiles. 
 
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 THE HUGUENOTS IN ENGLAND AND IRELAND. 
 
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