216 Transactions. 



been conspicuously absent. The Raven has been seen once. Birds 

 of prey have been even scarcer than usual. Speaking of birds of 

 prey, I am disposed to claim for Glencairu the honour of having 

 contained the last Dumfriesshire " Gled " or Kite {Milvus Regalis). 

 The year of its death would be 1869 or 1870. 



TI. The Balance of Nature in Regard to Our Fisheries. 



By Mr J. J. Armistead. 

 In the course of this paper, Mr Armistead said that interfer- 

 ence with the balance of nature was a matter whicli rerjuired a 

 considerable amount of consideration. After an allusion to the 

 rabbit pest in the antipodes, Mr Armistead pointed out that the 

 killing- of birds and beasts of prey, and so disturbing the balance 

 of nature, cleared away many enemies of rats, &c., and thus left 

 these in abundance. Undoubtedly, where man thoughtlessly 

 interfered with nature's balance the result probably meant loss to 

 himself, but where thoughtfully done the result was profitable. 

 He alluded with satisfaction to the introduction of trout from this 

 country and America into the rivers and lakes of New Zealand, 

 and then went on to say that in many cases man had inadvertently 

 or of necessity interfered with the balance of nature as far as 

 regarded our fisheries. Instances of this would be found in the 

 alteration of the flow of water, and its pollution, as well as the 

 draining of hills, the latter practice cutting off nature's supplies for 

 dry weather. The drainage of the hills had undoubtedly affected 

 our rivers very materially, and every practical fish-culturist had 

 become assured of that fact. Many large streams flowed into the 

 Solway, for instance, carrying* into it rain and snow water from a 

 district ten times as big as the Solway itself, which, on account of 

 the shallowness of the Solway, had a very material effect upon its 

 waters. The North Sea contained a great number of fish, because 

 it also contained immense quantities of other marine creatures, such 

 as Crustacea, worms, mollusca, echinoderms, &c. For the young 

 fish which had been recently hatched, the presence of small micro- 

 scopic organisms in very large numbers was of vital importance. 

 At the very time when fish left their eggs the sea was full of young 

 Crustacea, mussels, and echinoderms, so that the little fishes inhaled 

 as it were with the water they breathed large numbers of these 

 exceedingly minute creatures. After a description of the effect of 

 partially-drained lakes, Mr Armistead alluded to the work that 

 could be done towards training fish to rise to the different flies. He 



