86 FISHING GOSSIP. 



these five months comprise 153 days, and constitute 

 decidedly the period when the fewest fish in good 

 condition are available as food for man, and the sound- 

 ness of this rule is so far manifest. , By the Act of 

 1862 for Scotland, 168 days are required to be closed ; 

 and in 1863 Ireland followed suit, and by the Act then 

 passed required the same number to be observed ; 

 thus an addition of fifteen days to the time fixed for 

 England has been made for the other portions of the 

 kingdom, and it may be well for England to consider 

 whether she will not take the hint from her neighbours, 

 and move with them in the same provident direction. 



Having so far disposed of the question as applying 

 to suitable legislation, I would call attention to some 

 of those circumstances connected with the migrations 

 of salmon, which it may be interesting for naturalists 

 to consider and useful to investigate ; and in doing so 

 I shall confine myself on the present occasion to the 

 rivers of Ireland, for as they were my earliest com- 

 panions, I am bound and not unwilling to acknow- 

 ledge them as my most familiar acquaintances. 



On the south-west coast of Ireland then, in the 

 Kingdom* of Kerry, lies the Bay of Ballinskelligs, 

 not far from the famed island of Valentia, from 

 whence the cable of the Atlantic Telegraph Company 

 was started. The river discharging from Curraune 



* Vide the man who inquired what part of Kerry Ireland was 



