HOWIETOUN PLANK PONDS. 159 



the 24th of April, and these chiefly from choking or the attacks of 

 two caddis worms, which I destroyed when I took the gravel out." 

 The fry in the plank pond were fed on rabbits' liver and the 

 yolks of hard-boiled eggs. On this they throve amazingly. On 

 the 16th May (Sunday) some were fully an inch and a half long. 

 The question of commissariat became serious ; the rabbits' livers 

 would go bad so easily, and the flies seemed to think that rabbits' 

 liver was specially provided to nurse their brood. Something had 

 to be done, and at once. The gamekeepers brought the livers 

 three times a week, and once a collie dog had stolen them, to the 

 starvation of the dear fry. I made a box ; and, to keep the livers 

 sweet, I made two sides of perforated zinc. I thought they would 

 be safe. I was wrong. The same collie, or a friend more knowing, 

 tore off the zinc, and again the fry would have suffered ; but this 

 I could not stand a second time. I offered to look at the ventila- 

 tion of the larder. My offer was guilelessly accepted. I have no 

 doubt my opinion on the subject was most valuable ; and never 

 understood why the absence of the fillet of beef (which should 

 have been the principal part of the dinner) should have robbed 

 me of my wife's thanks ; but the fry looked fat and well next 

 morning. I next designed a moveable larder, to hang up out of 

 the reach of harm. It was a frame of wood, covered on four sides 

 and on the bottom with perforated zinc. The top was of zinc 

 (sheet), arched, to throw off' the rain. Two hooks passed through 

 the top, by which it is suspended. By this means the weight of 

 the meat is carried directly by the point of suspension, and no 

 stress comes upon the frame, a very important point where light- 

 ness, or even neatness, is a consideration. The whole of one side 

 opens as a door, and any blood drops through the bottom. These 

 larders have proved so useful, and keep the livers so fresh, I have 

 used them in every outlying pond ; and I shortly afterwards built 

 a game larder on the same principle, out of which I this year eat 

 grouse in March, and pheasants in the end of April. The principle 

 is darkness combined with a strong draught. The darkness must 

 be produced by the situation chosen, as, near and to the north of, 

 a high wall (with the small larders under a tree). The perforated 



