74 FISH HATCHmC. 



his domain. His stock of fish, however, 

 dwindled and dwindled away, and men were 

 set at night to watch for poachers who never 

 came. About the middle of last year, I be- 

 thought me of your remark, ' that he had 

 taken to the bosom of his waters a set of 

 downy rascals who would not leave the weight 

 of a scale therein.' I told him of this ; he 

 had one of their craws examined ; evidence 

 of their piscatorial pursuits was there in 

 plenty. The other five underwent a similar 

 examination, and they were plucked. The 

 water is gradually assuming its old character, 

 but it will require at least two or three 

 years, and the absence of all swans, to 

 restore it to what it was. The worthy land- 

 lord of the angling hostelrie at Weybridge, 

 the elder Harris, writes, ' there never was 



