126 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



which they are found — it should follow, that it is 

 lawful to kill gravid and spent fish during the open 

 season, because it must be held that they are 

 seasonable. 



The following cases in which the Sheriff of the 

 Selkirkshire Court appears to have taken this view, 

 are reported in the Field oi December ist, 1888 : — 



" Back-end Salmon. — A case that will be read with interest 

 by late salmon anglers was heard on Wednesday in the Selkirk- 

 shire Sheriff's Court. There were two cases in which certain 

 persons were charged with having had ' unseasonable ' salmon 

 in their possession. In one case the police-constable who seized 

 the fish, stated he could not testify as to whether it was ' clean ' 

 or ' unclean ;' and the inspector of police, by whom the salmon 

 had been examined, said it was a female fish partly spawned. A 

 leading witness in the other case deponed that he never knew of 

 an angler returning any kind of salmon to the river at this season ; 

 he took all he got However, it was different in the spring. 

 Both cases were dismissed by the sheriff. Had a conviction 

 been secured in any of the cases referred to, it would have 

 caused some uneasiness amongst salmon anglers. The practice 

 during the back-end season is to take all fish caught by legal 

 means, no matter how near the spawning point they may be. 

 The fact, however, that persons should have been proceeded 

 against for having in their possession unseasonable fish at this 

 time of the year, proves that the law on the subject requires 

 elucidation." 



