520 Short Communications ; — 



aperture in the turf, scarcely 1 in. in diameter, below which 

 the head and eyes of a toad were observable : its body was 

 too much in the dark to be readily seen. This, it now occurs 

 to me, was a very pleasant cool grot for a place of residence 

 at this season. How long had the creature been there ? and 

 upon what did it subsist? As the earth and turf would yield 

 to pressure, the toad could scarcely have, in this instance, 

 squeezed itself in and out occasionally. Enough, possibly, of 

 insects to sustain it might attempt to pass over the aperture 

 and fall in. Earwigs, I have been told, are eaten by the toad. 

 From what I learned from the companion who showed this 

 instance to me, it seems to be the practice of the boys to irri- 

 tate the toad which they find thus circumstanced by applying 

 to it the end of a stiff straight straw, and provoking the 

 toad to grasp it in its mouth, when they lift it up, although 

 not, so far as I understood, out of its hole. — J. D, 



Fishes. — The Salmon enters and ascends Rivers for other 

 Purposes besides Propagation, (p. 211.) — In addition to the 

 objections which I have offered, in p. 211. *, to the seeming 

 doubt of Dr. Fleming, whether salmon enter rivers for any 

 other purpose besides propagation, the following have come 

 to mind ; and, though they do not apply to the salmon, they 

 confirm me in the opinion that there are reasons, of which we 

 know nothing, for fish ascending rivers, and others not at all 

 connected with propagation. One is the habit of (what is here 

 called) streaming. In the winter, the fish not engaged in 

 spawning (I speak of trouts, grayling, chub, dace, &c.) leave 

 the streams, and go into deep water ; either because the water 

 is warmer there, or because they there find more food ; and it 

 is well known to fly-fishers that they do not catch many fish 

 in the streams if they begin early, say in February. It is 

 proverbial here, that fish begin stream when the great grey 

 (in other districts, the devil dule crook, March brown, or 

 brown drake [an insect]) comes upon the water ; and I have 

 seen trout by scores leaping at a weir at the beginning of 

 May. Whether this is in search of food, or an instinct 

 implanted in them to keep all parts equally stocked with 

 them, I do not know ; but it had certainly nothing to do with 



• In p. 213. line 15. for " to the side" read " to side." The phrase 

 " to side " is a local one, probably, and ought to have been explained. 

 It means that the salmon endeavours to conceal itself under a large stone, 

 root, or any object which appears to offer it a shelter from its pursuers ; 

 and it may be either at " the side" or in the middle. If there is no place 

 of concealment in the pool, the poacher provides one, by placing the branch 

 of a tree, well covered with leaves, or with the rubbish left by the floods ; 

 and the silly fish, seeing this, darts there for security, and is easily leis- 

 tered [speared]. 



