236 MALACOPTERYGII. — SALMONID.E. 



are carefully landed ; and five hundred Salmon 

 have been taken at a single haul. 



If the season be favourable from the 1st of 

 July to the 12th of August, the daily average 

 may be five hundred Salmon, besides an immense 

 quantity of white Trout. But should the weather 

 be rainy or tempestuous, the Salmon forsake the 

 estuary and remain at sea till it clears ; so that 

 the time limited by law sometimes elapses before 

 a moiety of the fish can be secured. 



Through the winter months the Salmon rises 

 freely at the fly; but the diminution of vigour 

 and energy in the fish affords very inferior sport. 

 Their beauty and their value too are gone. " They 

 are now reddish, dull, dark-spotted, perch-coloured 

 fish, and seem a different species from the spark- 

 ling, silvery creatures we saw them when they 

 first left the sea. As an esculent they are utterly 

 worthless, — soft, flabby, and flavourless if brought 

 to table : — instead of the delicate pink hue they 

 exhibited when in condition, they present a sickly, 

 unhealthy, white appearance, that betrays how 

 complete the change is that they have recently 

 undergone. 



" And yet at this period they suffer most from 

 night-fishers. This species of poaching is as dif- 

 ficult to detect, as it is ruinous in its consequences. 

 It is believed that the destruction of a few breed- 

 ing fish may cost the proprietor a thousand." 



Night-fishing is prosecuted when the river is 

 low and the night moonless. The poacher, armed 

 with a gaff and carrying a torch, selects the gra- 

 velly shallows, where he may see the fish deposit- 

 ing its spawn ; he readily discovers them with the 

 torch, and secures them with the gaff. Hundreds 



