The Open Air 



launches. A launch can pass as softly and quietly as 

 a skiff floating with the stream. And there is a good 

 deal to be said on the other side, for the puntsmen 

 stick themselves very often in the way of every one 

 else; and if you analyse fishing for minnows from a 

 punt you will not find it a noble sport. A river like 

 the Thames, belonging as it does or as it ought to 

 a city like London, should be managed from the very 

 broadest standpoint. There should be pleasure for 

 all, and there certainly is no real difficulty in arrang- 

 ing matters to that end. The Thames should be like 

 a great aquarium, in which a certain balance of life 

 has to be kept up. When aquaria first came into 

 favour such things as snails and weeds were excluded 

 as eyesores and injurious. But it was soon discovered 

 that the despised snails and weeds were absolutely 

 necessary; an aquarium could not be maintained in 

 health without them, and now the most perfect 

 aquarium is the one in which the natural state is 

 most completely copied. On the same principle it 

 is evident that too exclusive preservation must be 

 injurious to the true interests of the river. Fish 

 enthusiasts, for instance, desire the extinction of 

 water-fowl there is not a single aquatic bird which 

 they do not accuse of damage to fry, spawn, or full- 

 grown fish; no, not one, from the heron down to the 

 tiny grebe. They are nearly as bitter against animals, 

 the poor water-vole (or water-rat) even is denounced 

 and shot. Any one who chooses may watch the water- 

 rat feeding on aquatic vegetation; never mind, shoot 

 him because he's there. There is no other reason. 

 Bitterest, harshest, most envenomed of all is the 

 outcry and hunt directed against the otter. It is as 

 if the otter were a wolf as if he were as injurious as 

 the mighty boar whom Meleager and his companions 



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