EOD-FlSHING IN THE NiTH. 31 



and help a little to restock our watei'S, and refrain from killing 

 undersized fish, their baskets would year by year contain better 

 fish in greater numbers. A fishing holiday would then be not 

 only a source of enjoyment and health, but would be rewarded 

 with a basket of trout fit to be taken home to the wife and bairns. 



May I be permitted to give a piece of advice to the wives of 

 anglers ? If your spouse comes home with an empty basket do 

 not jeer at and flout him. It is not given to every angler always 

 to command success. If he brings home trout much larger than 

 any that are to be found in the stream which he has been fishing 

 do not sugg'est that he has paid a visit to the fishmonger on his 

 way home, because even should he have done so he may still say 

 he caught them, and at all events he has shown a desire to please 

 you. He may say he caught them, for there is a story told of a 

 Yorkshire angler who, returning with an empty basket, seeing 

 some very fine trout reposing on a fishmonger's slab asked the 

 price, and, finding it reasonable, astonished the fishmonger by 

 asking him to throw him half-a-crown's worth. He caught them 

 one by one in his hand and deposited them in his basket. He 

 could then truthfully tell his wife that he had caught them all 

 himself. 



I would suggest also that it is wise of the wife to sympathise 

 with her husband and pretend to believe in the enormous size of 

 the trout which he has lost during the day. It pleases him and 

 does not hurt anyone. 



Let me conclude this very rambling- paper with an apology 

 for a mistake which I have made on the first page. I there wrote 

 of s&lmon feeding on certain creatures which inhabit the waters. 



A certain very scientific body has discovered that salmon do 

 not feed in fresh water. We are told that it is well known that 

 salmon do occasionally take and swallow worms and other 

 wriggling objects — but this is not feeding. Feeding means " not 

 the mere swallowing of material, but the digestion, absorption, 

 and utilization of that material by the body." 



I crave your pity, therefore, for the poor salmon who has 

 stuffed himself with worms during a flood. What a dreadful 

 stomach ache he must have ! The scientifie society which has 

 been enquiring into the life history of the salmon has dissected 

 some salmon and declared that their stomachs were found to be 

 functionless. Therefore they could not feed. Therefore no 



