34 THE SALMON FISHERIES. 
the old close times were too often made to cover the best 
part of the legitimate fishing season, and allowed fishing to 
take place all through the spawning season. An Act of 
Queen Anne, for instance, fixed a close season in Hamp- 
shire from 30th June to 11th November, and this was 
“amended” by 1 George I. c. 18, which made the close 
season extend from rst August to 12th November. This last- 
named Act again fixed a close time for the Severn, Dee, 
Wye, Wear, Tees, Ribble, Mersey, Don, Aire, Ouse, Swale, 
Calder, Wharfe, Ure, Derwent and Trent from “ the last day 
of July to the 12th day of November for ever;” and it 
was not till 1750 that this close season was found “ incon- 
venient as to the said River Ribble by reason that the 
time limited for restraining the taking fish therein is not 
properly suited or adapted to the fishing season there.” 
The close season for the Ribble, it may be added, is now 
from ist September to Ist February, and covers ap- 
proximately the same period for all the rivers named. 
This question of close time, together with that of the 
mesh of nets, brings us from what has been called 
“legitimate fishing” to what we may call “illegitimate 
fishing ”—the slaughter of breeding fish and of young 
fry. For ages the picturesque practice of “burning the 
water” for salmon was carried on in England and Ireland 
as well as Scotland, and the spearing of the gravid fish 
off the spawning beds long held its own as a recognised 
form of sport; yet there always seemed plenty of fish 
to be leistered, and plenty to be netted in the sea below. 
For ages the capture of smolts was carried on; yet every 
year the cry was still “They come;” and, as Macbeth 
fondly believed that his “castle’s strength ” could “laugh a 
siege to scorn,” so the riverside inhabitants made no doubt 
that the strongholds of the salmon could long withstand 
