148 ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE 



regular thing done ; the mischief is done high up 

 the rivers ; if these illegal practices were put an 

 end to, a great increase would take place imme- 

 diately. 



Henry Hume Drummond, Esq. The fisheries 

 have decreased generally in Scotland from a com- 

 bination of causes, chiefly the violation of the close 

 time, for the preservation of the breeding fish and 

 the fry ; the close time should be extended to a 

 longer period of the year ; the spawning fish and 

 the fry should not be destroyed; recommends 

 persons to watch the breeding fish and the descent 

 of the fry ; recommends persons who have no other 

 avocations ; there should be a break in all dyke 

 dams ; if cruive jishing could be abolished, it would 

 very much increase the brood ofjish by opening the 

 rivers not only for the ascent of breeding jlsh, but 

 for the descent of the fry ; noxious matter is injurious 

 to the fish. 



NOTES. 



return. This information I had from a person this day 

 (15th Sept.), who said he had seen it done thousands and 

 thousands of times. It is well known that all rapacious 

 animals have a peculiar method of taking their prey : a lion 

 will not spring on a horse till it turns, nor the cat on a rat; 

 the goss-hawk strikes by a side shoot, some other hawks by 

 flying under, and some again by flying above; the shark turns 

 on Ms side , this habit of the porpoise was new to me until 

 this day, nor is it mentioned in any book. It is, thus, not 

 an act of wantonness, but of necessity. 



