98 THE SALMON. 
reached the spawning beds, they are peculiarly exposed 
to the cruel spear. At night, by this instrument, with 
the aid of flambeaux, hundreds may be killed and many 
more wounded and left to perish miserably. If they are 
to continue in reasonable numbers, nets must not be set 
close together, the spawning beds must be undisturbed, 
and the murderous spear utterly prohibited. With 
these precautions and a regulation concerning the sized 
mesh that is used, this yaluable source of pleasure, health 
and profit may not only be retained but indefinitely 
augmented; without such care the day is not far off 
when " the places that knew them will know them no 
more," when their bright sides will no longer gleam 
beneath the waves or glisten as they gambol in the sun- 
light, when tlie nets wdll cease to yield a return, when 
the fishermen, longing regretfully for their most valuable 
prize, will find their occupation gone, and honest and 
dishonest, fair fisherman and sneaking poacher, alike be 
overwhelmed in one common ruin. Surely we have too 
much good sense, too much public spirit, too much 
energy and determination to submit to such a calamity ; 
let us unite, then, in repressing unseasonable and unlaw- 
ful fishing, in preserving and protecting the fish, and in 
restoring rivers that have been exhausted. 
In the salt water, salmon never take the fly, and rarely 
bait of any kind, although they feed on sand eels and 
small fish in addition to shell-fish ; but as they advance 
into brackish or fresh water, they either miss their natu- 
ral food and become hungry, or get accustomed to feed- 
ing on grasshoppers and insects, and are deceived by the 
artificial fly, and will at times take the bait. 
