70 FISH HATCHING. 



ticularly in ponds and in the river Thames, 

 where they do incalculable mischief to the 

 fisheries, and slay their millions, gobbling up 

 the newly-laid spawn with their long beaks 

 and spoon-like bills. In 1861, 1 was deputed 

 to report, with the late lamented Mr. Arthur 

 Smith, upon this point, and we sent in a 

 report to the British Fisheries Preservation 

 Association, recording our actual observations 

 of these poachers, taken when they were at 

 work, for which purpose we made a voyage 

 on the Thames, near Windsor. I myself, 

 therefore, am fully convinced of the immensity 

 of harm they do to the Thames, but I prefer 

 calling other witnesses as well, for the subject 

 has been well ventilated in "The Field/' 

 and every year it turns up again about the 

 end of April or beginning of May. 



