x DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



and that without the efforts of bailiffs, a con- 

 sideration which brings us to the other side of the 

 picture, and to the worse things that have befallen 

 salmon since Scrope wrote his book. They are more 

 evident on many other rivers than on the Tweed, 

 which, on the whole, seems to have kept a sort of 

 level for a good many years, thanks to the operation 

 of its special Acts, but the Tweed has its share of 

 them, since they affect every river in the country to 

 a greater or less degree. 



To understand properly the evils that beset the 

 salmon we must consider the facts of the fish's 

 existence. They may briefly be summed up in the 

 statement that it feeds in the sea and breeds in 

 fresh water. Unless it has free access to the salt 

 water for the one purpose and to the fresh water for 

 the other it must cease to exist. So far as we know 

 at present man's varied ingenuities have not yet 

 succeeded in altering the character of the sea 

 pastures in which salmon acquire their substance, 

 so there is no immediate problem to be solved there 

 (though it would not be safe to assume that problems 

 will not arise in the future), but there is no possible 

 doubt that the fish's passage to the rivers and the 

 breeding grounds is attended with constantly in- 

 creasing obstacles which are directly attributable to 

 man. 



The first, and I think the worst, of these obstacles 

 is pollution. Some rivers, such as the Thames and 

 Trent, which used to hold salmon are now without 

 them simply because at some part of their course 

 they are too polluted for the fish to run up from or 



