Water Poachers. 181 



penchant for fish, especially the fry of salmon 

 and trout ; the bad habit is bred in him. 



The fact of salmon and trout devouring the 

 spawn of their own kind has been already referred 

 to, and unfortunately the practice is continued 

 after the eggs are hatched. The big fish some- 

 times so terrify the tiny trout and samlets that 

 the latter throw themselves clear out of the 

 water and lay gasping on the pebbles, while the 

 would-be devourer beats about the shallows 

 disappointed at losing his prey. An old " kelt " 

 salmon has been seen to devour fifty of his own 

 progeny for breakfast ; and the pike is a greater 

 water-wolf still. This fish has been known to 

 increase at the enormous rate of from eight to 

 ten pounds a year when favourably placed for 

 feeding. So voracious a creature is the pike, and 

 furnished with such digestion, that it will destroy 

 a half-pound trout a day for twelve months a 

 terrible drain upon any stream. Then it has an 

 all-capacious maw for silvery smolts as they are 

 making their way down to the sea, and of these 

 at certain seasons it devours myriads. Of course 

 pike keep coarse fish nder, which are indirectly 

 injurious to trout, and in this way confer a benefit 

 upon the angler. There is another way in which 

 he is beneficial, and that is as a scavenger. A 

 diseased salmon or trout never lives more than 

 a few minutes in his presence, for he gulps 



