Water Poachers. 191 



A species of poaching which the older hands 

 rarely go in for is that of poisoning. Chloride 

 of lime is the agent most in use, as it does not 

 injure the edible parts. This is thrown into the 

 river where fish are known to be, and its deadly 

 influence is soon seen. The fish become poisoned 

 and weakened, and soon float belly uppermost. 

 This at once renders them conspicuous, and as 

 they are on the surface of the stream, they are 

 simply lifted out of the water in a landing-net. 

 This is a wholesale and cowardly method, as 

 it frequently poisons the fish for miles down 

 stream ; it not only kills the larger fish, but 

 destroys great quantities of immature ones which 

 are wholly unfit for food. Trout which come 

 by their death in this way have the usually pink 

 parts of a dull white, with the eyes and gill- 

 covers of the same colour and covered with a 

 thin white film. This substance, too, is much 

 used in mills on the banks of trout streams, and 

 probably more fish are destroyed by this kind of 

 pollution in a month than the most inveterate 

 poacher will kill in a year. 



Throughout summer fish are in season, but the 

 really serious poaching is practised during close 

 time. When spawning, the senses of both salmon 

 and trout seem to become dulled, and they are 

 not at all difficult to approach in the water. 

 The fish seek the higher reaches to spawn, and 

 stay for a considerable time on the pebble beds. 



