ig8 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



is soon seen. The fish becomes poisoned and 

 weakened, and soon float belly uppermost. This 

 at once renders them conspicuous, and as they are 

 on the surface of the stream they are simply lifted 

 out of the water in a landing-net. This is a whole- 

 sale and cowardly method, as it frequently poisons 

 the fish for miles down stream; it not only kills the 

 larger fish, but destroys great quantities of immature 

 ones which are wholly unfit for food. Trout which 

 come by their death in this way have the usually 

 pink parts of a dull white, with the eyes and gill- 

 covers of the same colour and covered with a thin 

 white film. This substance, too, is much used in 

 mills on the banks of trout streams, and probably 

 more fish are destroyed by this kind of pollution in 

 a month than the most inveterate poacher will kill 

 in a year. 



Throughout summer fish are in season, but the 

 really serious poaching is practised during close- 

 times. When spawning, the senses of both salmon 

 and trout seem to become dulled, and they are not 

 at all difficult to approach in the water. The fish 

 seek the higher reaches to spawn, and stay for a 

 considerable time on the pebble beds. The salmon 

 offer fair marks, and the poacher obtains them by 

 spearing. A pronged instrument is driven into the 

 fleshy shoulders of the fish, and it is hauled out on the 

 bank. In this way sometimes more fish are obtained 



