APPENDICES. 



I. 



CLOSE-TIME FOR TKOUT. 



THE pollutions and obstructions in our rivers are evils 

 against which trout and salmon alike have to contend, 

 and to which both alike too often succumb. Trout, how- 

 ever, are further weighted in the struggle for existence, 

 through the absence of any provision for their pro- 

 tection at a time when they are least able to protect 

 themselves, and when the slaughter of one means the 

 loss of thousands. To this cause alone must be attrib- 

 uted a greater destruction of trout than to any other, 

 or perhaps to all other preventible causes combined. 

 Indeed it is not too much to say that unrestricted 

 fishing is, of itself, quite sufficient to effect the depop- 

 ulation of any stream ; and my belief is, that if a close- 

 time measure is much longer delayed, the necessity for 

 it on some rivers will have passed away. 



For centuries the leister and the light were and 

 are still occasionally used on Scottish rivers with dire 

 effect against the salmon ; and now we have the " shab- 

 ble " and the torch arrayed against the trout. By their 





