there be in the river Wye in Monmouthshire, where they be in season, as Camden observes, from September till April.* But, my scholar, the observation of this and many other things I must in manners omit, because they will prove too large for our narrow compass of time, and therefore I shall next fall upon my directions how to fish for this Salmon.

And, for that: First you shall observe, that usually he stays not long in a place, as Trouts will, but, as I said, covets still to go nearer the spring-head: † and that he does not, as the Trout and many other fish, lie near the water-side or bank, or roots of trees, but swims in the deep and broad parts of the water, and usually in the middle, and near the ground, and that there you are to fish for him, and that he is to be caught, as the Trout is, with a worm, a minnow, which some call a penk, or with a fly.

And you are to observe, that he is very seldom observed to bite at a minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usually at a fly, but more usually at a worm, and then most usually at a lob or garden worm, which should be well scoured, that is to say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you fish with them: and if

* Mr Duncombe, speaking of the Salmon, says, "They are found in the Wye at all times, but they are only in perfection from December to August." The assertion of Doctor Fuller (Worthies, p. 34), that "the Salmon of the Wye are in season all the year long, is altogether groundless. They formerly abounded so much, that it was a commoa clause in the indentures of children apprenticed in Hereford, that they should not be compelled to live on Salmon more than two days in a week." Such precautions are, however, now unnecessary. "After a short continuance in fresh water," adds Mr Duncombe, "they tend rapidly to impoverishment, and as they are only stationary when there is not a sufficient stream to admit of their proceeding, a moderate swell puts the new fish in motion up the river, and enables the fishermen to calculate their approach with considerable accuracy. They are very rarely found to proceed against a current of cold or very hard water: when therefore the Wye is swelled by snow dissolving in large quantities from the mountains towards its source, which occasionally happens as late as April, or even May, all attempts to take them are suspended for the time. They are not intercepted by the fishermen when returning to the sea, as it is known that the voyage which they have performed has deprived them of their principal value: and in this state they are denominated old fish. The spawn deposited in the river produces fish of very minute size, which about April become as heavy as a gudgeon, but more taper and delicate in their form: these are in some parts termed salmon-fry, but are here known by the name of last-springs from the date of their annual appearance, and are readily taken by the artificial fly. Two kinds of last-springs are found in the Wye, the one which is the larger, and more common sort, leaves the river in the spring floods: the smaller is termed the gravel last-spring, and is met with, particularly in shoals, during the whole summer. The general opinion is, that the last-springs, after making a voyage to the sea, return botchers in the beginning of the following summer. Botchers are taken from three to twelve pounds weight; they are distinguished from the Salmon by a smaller head, more silvery scales, and by retaining much of the delicate appearance of the last-spring. In the third year they become Salmon, and often weigh from forty to fifty pounds each. These are the generally-received opinions respecting the progress of the last-spring to the botcher and Salmon: but it must not be omitted, that some able naturalists of the present time contend that the last-spring and botcher are each distinct in their species from the Salmon, and that the botcher resembles the sain taken in the Welsh rivers, or that it is even the same fish."-Collections towards the History and Antiquities of Herefordshire, p. 161 et seq.

†The Salmon delights in large rapid rivers, especially such as have pebbly, gravelly, and sometimes weedy bottoms.