252 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



wondered at when a swan will devour a gallon of 

 fish spawn every day while it remains unhatched, 

 if he can get it ; and it is easily found. Both wild 

 and domestic ducks are destructive to spawn, and 

 almost live on the " redds " during the breeding 

 season. We have more than once shot moorhens 

 in autumn with spawn dripping from their bills, 

 and the birds themselves gorged with it. The 

 Coot has been charged with the same crime, 

 although as yet guilt has only been brought home 

 to it with regard to coarse fish. The grebe or 

 dabduck must be looked upon as an arrant little 

 poacher not only of eggs and fry but of fish in 

 every stage of growth. It is said that a pair of 

 dabducks will do more harm on a river than a pair 

 of otters, which, however, is perhaps not so terrible 

 as it sounds. Several pairs of grebes fishing a mile 

 of river, as I have known, would certainly injure it ; 

 and the late Mr. Bartlett stated that a pair of these 

 birds which he kept in confinement cost the 

 Zoological Society a considerable sum in providing 

 small fish for them. Frank Buckland had a grebe 

 sent to him which had been choked by a bullhead, 

 and the same fate has not unfrequently befallen 

 kingfishers and other aquatic birds. 



This is another enemy, a poacher, that studies 

 the migratory and local movements of fish, and acts 



The accordingly. It is the habit of this bird 

 Cormo- (fortunately it is not common in the Lake 



rant District) to visit small rivers which flow 

 into the sea, especially during the late winter and 

 early spring months. At these seasons the smolts 

 are preparing to come down, and the salmon kelts 

 and sea-trout are assembling in the deeper pools 

 prior to their return to salt water. A brace of 



