THE MASTER OF THE TANK. 155 



salmon each chooses his own quarters be- 

 hind a stone, just at the edge of the slate, 

 under a certain bit of weed, &c., and on his 

 domain he allows no other fish to trespass, on 

 any pretence whatever. There is one salmon 

 in particular, who has chosen the spot where 

 the water falls into the tank, and he is always 

 there, close under the fall. White reports 

 of him that he does not allow any other 



ever you caught or saw a fish, he was always a whopper the 

 biggest in the weir. I have ki^own more than a dozen fish 

 taken from that corner during several years, and not one of 

 them weighed less than nine or ten pounds. This is a very 

 extraordinary fact, nevertheless it is a fact ; and those old 

 observant fishermen on the Thames who really know * what 

 is what,' will bear out what I say in this respect, I am sure. 

 The same thing occurs with salmon. There are certain casts 

 for big fellows which no little one presumes to trespass upon, 

 and certain casts for smaller potentates. In smaller trout- 

 streams the same law holds good to the very letter, as every 

 fly-fisher of any experience will verify. Now, it is to increase 

 the number of these ' likely places ' by dropping in big stones, 

 lumps of old brick-work, &c., that I am advocating. 



"FEANOIS FRANCIS." 



