84 THE THAMES AS A TROUT RIVER. 



through it, or the heavy ground-swell that they 

 throw up against either bank in their passage up or 

 down stream, can question for a moment the injury 

 done to such animal life as has its' home in the 

 liquid element. 



Of all fish that swim in the Thames, trout, I be- 

 lieve, suffer most from the above-mentioned cause, 

 as their haunts are where they can enjoy the invi- 

 gorating influence of the swift-running water, only to 

 be obtained in the main channel (therefore, traffic 

 way) of the river ; while coarser fish frequent, in- 

 differently, back-waters, inlets, and even localities 

 where no flow is perceptible. Yet even this selec- 

 tion does not render them safe in their breeding 

 operations, for into every creek and back-water of 

 sufficient depth these mosquito steamships are sure 

 to enter. Coarse fish, moreover, deposit their 

 spawn around the aquatic vegetation that surrounds 

 their haunts, most frequently only a very slight 

 distance beneath low-water level. Such being the 

 case, it is obvious that the wash of passing steam 

 craft must be very injurious to it. It is, however, to 

 be doubted whether the commoner fish suffer from 

 destruction of their ova as do trout, for the reason 

 that, as a rule, as I have attempted to show, they 

 do not deposit their spawn so much in the thorough- 

 fare or main highway of traffic. 



Swans, also, are a most serious obstacle to the in- 

 crease of trout in the Thames. Many authorities 

 have stated this, but for a long time I was sceptical, 

 and believed that their depredations were much 

 exaggerated ; not so now, however, for late last 

 autumn and early in the past winter these birds 

 used to frequent in numbers the most probable 

 breeding-places of the. trout, more particularly those 

 in proximity to Penton Hook, Chertsey, and Wey- 

 bridge Weirs, and, moreover, seemed to be pursuing a 

 most profitable avocation. But the injury these birds 



