256 COARSE FISH. 



Lower Thames, as a full description would require a 

 volume ; 1 but what I have said may be of use to those 

 who want fishing near London. 



As the Lower Thames is much fished, the fish are 

 correspondingly wary ; roach-fishing in the winter, when 

 the water is thick, is often very good indeed, though 

 pound-and-a-half fish are nowadays getting scarce. Ex- 

 perience gained on the Thames pays uncommonly well 

 in waters that are little fished ; and a good Thames angler 

 will generally hold his own anywhere. 



The fact that swans destroy fish-spawn is distressing 

 to Thames anglers. For such as are in- 

 c ^ ne< ^ to doubt that sw r ans do harm to spawn, 

 tne following extracts from the minutes of the 

 Thames Angling Preservation Society's register 

 should set that question at rest. 



A copy of a letter signed by the late Frank T. Buck- 

 land, the late Stephen Ponder, and others, 2 appears in the 

 minutes of the T.A.P.S., which letter was in the Field ; it 

 is entitled " The Destruction of Fish Spawn by Swans." 



Amongst other remarks on the subject, the letter states : 

 "At a period when the attention of most persons is 

 drawn to the best means of preserving our piscatorial 

 resources, it becomes indeed a serious matter to reflect 

 that we are permitting a sw r arm of feathered otters to 

 baffle all our exertions and check the fruition of our 

 wishes in the very nursery from which success alone can 

 arise. Nor is it upon the spawning beds only that we 

 should look for facts condemnatory of the habits of these 

 birds, as they may likewise be seen stripping the over- 

 hanging and submerged branches of the trees of the 

 spawn of the perch, their heads ever and anon appear- 

 ing above the water with their prey hanging in gelatinous 

 streaks from either side of their bills. So greedy indeed 

 are they over their feast that they will almost show fight 

 if disturbed, and it requires the aid of a punt pole and no 

 little perseverance to drive them away even for a while." 

 Farther on the letter states : " Perhaps it may be asked 

 whether those who thus complain of their numbers would 

 kill so beautiful a bird? Certainly not but I would 



1 The Lower Thames will be dealt with at length in a later volume 

 of the Library. ED. 



2 For the Sub-Committee of the T.A.P.S. 



