132 



THE SEA-TROUT 



in fresh water may have a bearing on the period of spawning, it being 



more probable that a fish which has spent three, four, or, it may be, five 



years in fresh water will spawn as a whitling than one which has only 



spent two years in fresh water, but I can submit no evidence upon which 



any definite theory can be based. In considering this matter it is worth 



while perhaps to keep in view that so experienced an observer as Mr. 



Malloch states regarding whitling: — "My opinion is they do not 



spawn." Possibly the great majority of the smaller Tay whitling do 



not. 



It may be interjected here that the capture of these young fish in 



spring, if they have not spawned, and of course similar fish everywhere 

 in Scotland, is strictly legal provided it is not during the close time. 

 They cannot, if they have not spawned, reasonably be held to fall 

 within the statutory prohibition against the capture of " unclean or 

 unseasonable salmon " contained in Section XX of the Salmon 

 Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1868, because, not having spawned, they are 

 not " unclean," or kelts; nor are they " unseasonable," in the sense of 

 being caught within the close time which is the interpretation of that 

 term adopted by the English Law Courts. It should be pointed out, 

 however, that the word " unseasonable " has been several times 

 interpreted in the Sheriff Courts of Scotland as meaning, in the some- 

 what loose Scottish sense, " not very good according to time and 

 circumstance," and therefore an ill-conditioned fish of this class caught 

 before regaining the sea might expose the captor to risk of a prosecu- 

 tion. I think the definition of an " unclean or unseasonable salmon," 

 which I have elsewhere formerly given,^ is explicit enough for all 

 practical purposes, namely, " an unclean or unseasonable salmon is a 

 salmon which is on the eve of spawning, is in the act oT bpawnmg, or has 

 not fully recovered from the effects of spawning." But I think the 

 taking of these young fish at all at this early period of the year is to be 

 strongly deprecated, if for no other reason than that their capture simply 



1. " The Gentle Art," p. 24S. See also post p. 1«6. 



