1 82 Poachers and Poaching. 



down fish, fungus, arid all. In this connection 

 there is one fact which ought not to be over- 

 looked. Of late years disease has played terrible 

 havoc in some of the best rivers in the country. 

 In one of these, known to the writer, scarcely a 

 fish is caught which does not show scars left by 

 the disease want of tail, partial loss of fins, and 

 white patches where the fungus has previously 

 grown. That numbers of the fish attacked do 

 survive there can be no question ; and that the 

 disease may be prevented at the cost of a few 

 fish we have but little doubt. This may be 

 considered a bold assertion ; but in these days 

 of artificial rearing, re-stocking, and preservation, 

 anglers and angling associations are apt either 

 to forget or to ignore the balance of nature. 

 Now, nature rarely overlooks an insult. Destroy 

 her appointed instruments and beware of her 

 revenge. That the salmon and trout may live 

 a whole host of stream-haunting creatures are 

 condemned, and that often upon the most in- 

 sufficient evidence. 



The creature against which the angler " breathes 

 hot roarings out " is the otter. But how few 

 fish does the otter really destroy ! The evidence 

 to be gathered by those who live along its 

 streams all goes to show that eels and freshwater 

 crayfish form the staple of its food. In search 

 of these, it wanders miles in a night and will 



