AND ANGLING SONG^ 365 



II. 



Or mayhap, whaur, glen desertin' 



Winds the river, blue an' braid ; 

 Noo some quiet meadow skirtin', 



Rinnin' noo below the shade. 

 Seek ye there, etc. 



in. 



Or amang the hills uncheery, 



Whaur the mirk-mere slumbers lorn, 



An' his dirges wild and dreary 

 Pipes the grey whaup to the morn. 

 Seek ye there, etc. 



THE WASTAGE ON THE SPAWNING-BEDS OF THE SALMON. 



I AM naturally led, in talking of the water- ousel, to say some- 

 thing about the wastage which occurs, to an extent that can 

 hardly be credited, on the natural spawning-grounds of the sal- 

 mon. When I affirm that not above one-sixth part of the ova 

 is properly deposited, or so placed at the desirable depth in- the 

 bed of the river as to have the chance of eventually becoming 

 hatched, I do not overrate matters. Observations made by me 

 at the spawning season, from well-reputed points of outlook, for 

 nearly thirty years, have led to this conclusion. Five-sixths at 

 the least of salmon ova go directly to waste ; nor, in respect to 

 the remaining sixth, is the chapter of accidents it becomes sub- 

 ject to unworthy of notice. The droughts in connexion with the 

 drainage of our valleys, leaving dry at the hatching season por- 

 tions of the river's channel where spawning operations had been 

 carried on. the poisons resulting from manufactories and the 

 sewage of towns, made now-a-days fatally active on the occasion 



