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, | am disposed to claim for Glencairn the honour of having 
contained the last Dumfriesshire ‘‘Gled” or Kite (AZ/vus Regalis). 
The year of its death would be 1869 or 1870. 
Il. Zhe 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 which required 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 
ourrivers 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. Ile 
OO 
