26 SALMONID.E. 



tremity of the line, wliere he is shortly succeeded by another 

 and another, the whole thus changing places continually. 

 When a fish strikes the halve, its mouth is instantly elevated 

 above the surface by the fisherman, so as to prevent its re- 

 treat until it can be carried into shallow water and secured. 

 During the ebb a similar plan is pursued in a reversed or- 

 der ; the mouths of the nets are still turned to the current, 

 but the fishermen now move in turn to the end of the line 

 which stands deepest in the water. Flat-fish are the princi- 

 pal returns of this fishing; but prime Salmon are occasionally 

 taken both on the flood and ebb. 



This kind of fishing being as yet open to all, and unfet- 

 tered by parliamentary enactments, there is scarcely a cot- 

 tage on the shores of the Solway Firth where the halve-net 

 may not be seen suspended. The fishermen have all some 

 other employment by which they maintain their families, 

 being mostly artisans ; and they generally consume the 

 produce of the halve-net at home, unless they chance to take 

 a fish whose value is sufficient to compensate them for the 

 time spent in going to market, sometimes ten or twelve 

 miles distant. 



Somewhat akin to this is the Salmon fishery in the 

 Frith of Forth. Narrow stages or platforms, supported on 

 wooden pillars, are carried from the shore for a considerable 

 distance into the river. Upon each of these half-a-dozen 

 or more fishermen station themselves Avith bag-nets, which 

 are dropped down from the side of the stage with the current 

 of the tide. The o^wner concealed, and also sheltered by a 

 straw hurdle, such as is used in decoys for water-fowl, watches 

 his net, and on a fish being taken, instantly secures it. 

 When the tide ebbs, the net is shifted to the opposite side of 

 the stage. 



" A singular method of taking Salmon is practised at 



