190 PEOTECTION OF FISH. 



it is always right and proper to fish for theni. ISTa- 

 turalists have, as yet, failed to discover this pecu- 

 liarity or describe these varieties ; and although ihoy 

 know that individuals may ditFer casually or delay 

 the act a few weeks, they recognise one well known 

 spawning season. The ova of trout are largely 

 developed in September, and, except in the colder 

 latitudes and where they are extremely abundant, 

 these fish should be exempt after the first of that 

 month; but in October and November, pressing 

 hunger should be the only excuse for killing them. 



The laws, however, are not so much to blame as 

 the neglect of their enforcement ; perfect statutes 

 ■will not answer if they are not carried out, and the 

 first duty of sportsmen's clubs and of individual 

 sportsmen, a duty to humanity, to themselves, and 

 to their fellow creatures, is to enforce the game 

 laws. By game laws are not meant those barbarous 

 statutes of England that made it more criminal in a 

 poor man to slay a hare than a human being — sta- 

 tutes that are deservedly odious to free men, and 

 which by no possibility could be introduced into the 

 New World ; but provisions for the protection and 

 preservation of the wild inhabitants of our woods 

 and waters, a common heritage of beauty and sus- 

 tenance, and the property of our citizens indiscrimi- 

 nately. These creatures are a considerable source 

 of wealth, w^orthy the most careful attention ; they 

 breed and increase of themselves without care or 

 expense ; and constitute a large portiort of the stock 

 of our markets. It would be an interesting investi- 



