174 How to obtain it. 



A syphon is then inserted, and by means of it the shells are 

 easily drawn off the screen into the bowl, the overflow spout from 

 the box being momentarily blocked by a piece of wood to stop 

 the current. All this is done very quickly, and before the egg- 

 shells in the bowl have settled they are gently poured off into a 

 sieve which is attached to the table, and are there left, to be after- 

 wards thrown away. It will usually be found that a few " alevins " 

 are in the bowl. These will settle to the bottom, and it is quite 

 easy to pour off the egg-shells without allowing them to pass over. 

 They are probably weakly fish, and may be turned into some 

 stream ; or, if it be intended to keep them, put back into the box, 

 taking care to put them in at the head, where the water enters. 



One of the most simple and effective methods of stocking 

 waters with trout is by planting eyed ova in artificial ova beds, 

 By doing this, when the eggs are almost on the point of hatching, 

 the heavy losses which occur in nature previous to that period are 

 avoided. The beds themselves also, being made artificially, can 

 be placed in the most convenient situations, where they will be 

 entirely beyond the reach of floods. The water should be led into 

 them through a pipe, or by an open spout. I have found an 

 ordinary two-inch draining tile quite large enough, and as a few of 

 these are usually easily obtainable anywhere, they are about as 

 handy as anything that can be procured. A piece of common 

 wooden spouting, if at hand, also does very well. It simply 

 requires to be covered by a board, or a few slates, to keep out the 

 dust, leaves, etc., and the whole may be protected from frost by a 

 heap of straw, bracken, or heather. The hatching bed is not 

 made in the stream itself, but somewhere near it, where it and its 

 vater supply will be absolutely under control. Under such con- 

 ditions it ought to do very successful work, and the plan of 

 hatching ova in such beds is of infinitely greater use, in many 

 cases, than the turning out of fry, and is done at less than one 

 fourth of the cost. 



A bed may be simply dug out, and if this course be adopted, 

 it is really nothing more than a ditch, which can be carefully 

 guarded from birds, etc., when the eggs are laid down in it. It 

 may be from one to two feet in width, and the amount of fall 

 should be such, that at regular intervals, varying from six to ten 



