THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 59 



not be made. In return for the miserable conces- 

 sion of perhaps a fortnight's additional angling for 

 gravid fish unfit for the table, during which time the 

 catch per rod might possibly average, under the most 

 favourable circumstances, one fish per diem, the nets 

 might place to their credit an additional catch of 

 over a thousand breedino; fish. The nets mio^ht 

 continue to take as many for a time, but the result 

 would soon be that the proprietors would find they 

 had "killed the goose with the golden eggs," as 

 the old saw runs. The fisheries would thus greatly 

 decrease in value, and anglers would discover when too 

 late that their halcyon days of sport were at an end.^ 

 I have already stated that there are three conflict- 

 ing interests on all rivers in which netting is practised 

 above the tideway — ist, those of the net fishings 

 in the tideway and estuary ; 2ndly, those of the 

 fisheries above the tideway as far as salmon travel 

 during the weekly close time ; and 3rdly, those of pro- 

 prietors of fisheries above that district. The first 



^ The Conway is a notable example of the evil result of an 

 extension of the open season for nets from the ist to the 15th of 

 September. 



