14 THE NATURAL HISTORY AND HABITS 



catching salmon by torch light ; and from one pound 

 to two pounds for each black fish or kilt so killed ; 

 these penalties, though much more lenient than what 

 are prescribed by the old Acts, if strictly and fully put 

 in force might be useful so far in protecting the 

 rivers ; but where now is the public prosecutor in- 

 structed to put them in force ? Of course we are told 

 we can prosecute before the sheriff or justices ; but 

 in place of that the sheriffs and justices should be the 

 principal supervisors, and all such prosecutions at 

 the public expense, and not by private individuals ; 

 for if a private individual fail in getting a conviction 

 once, the same individual will rarely attempt it a 

 second time, for the whole expense of the prosecution 

 falls on his shoulders, and that expense is never found 

 to be a trifle. 



Another bad feature in this Act is, that it has left 

 out altogether any remedy for the removal of fix- 

 tures ; they are all allowed to stand an invincible 

 barrier to the progress of the fish from the first day 

 of February to the fourteenth day of September: 

 Sunday and Saturday the same, there they are catch- 

 ing, destroying, and turning back to the sea. Salmon 

 clean and foul, young and old, must finish their 

 course among the meshes of these destructive engines : 

 they have no means to escape, for the one placed after 

 the other,, and always in the principal track that the 

 fish run in, is certain destruction, and very few escape 

 to fall to the rightful owners of the salmon. The 

 whole salmon fisheries in Scotland at one time was 

 the property of the Crown : some individuals got 

 grants of fishings along with their lands : but these 

 grants were given under the express understanding 

 that these fishings were to be strictly protected ac- 

 cording to law, so that the produce might be useful 

 for the benefit and support of the community ; these 



