3 88 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



catch the fish as they come over the shallows. Often the 

 fish are so obvious that it is difficult to prevent a retriever 

 from dashing in and pulling them out. It is usual in scores 

 of rivers to net the fish as they enter the mouth. The river 

 is contracted into narrow channels, and by a few simple 

 mechanical contrivances every fish that rushes up can be 

 easily netted. The very best and keenest sportsmen, whose 

 favourite among all sports is salmon fishing with a fly, share 

 in this netting, which may be very lucrative, especially on the 

 early rivers. It may be imagined that it would not require 

 the capture of many 20 Ib. fish to pay a dividend when the 

 price is 53. a pound. The fishing in many districts has to be 

 watched with extraordinary closeness, as these Irish poachers 

 will get the better even of a man posted at the very spot, and 

 armed with a gun or pistol. The fishing on some rivers 

 has been ruined because there has been regular poaching 

 at the mouth on the morning and night of Sunday, which is 

 recognised as the closed day for fish as for game-birds in 

 England. 



Other countries differ in this respect. In Belgium there 

 is enacted the curious law that certain kinds of fish may only 

 be caught on Sunday. The law was passed of course in the 

 interests of democracy. Fishing is a national amusement. 

 Every river in the country is in the common phrase 'trop 

 battue,' or ' threshed to death,' but the populace can only find 

 leisure on Sundays for their favourite amusement, and on 

 their behalf the right to take out from the rivers some of the 

 coarser fish is strictly confined to Sunday. Preservation is 

 most successfully maintained by the system of sanctuaries. 

 It is forbidden to fish entre les bois. Wherever the woods 

 come down to the streams, that stretch is government 

 property, and if any unwitting visitor wanders on to the 

 forbidden ground, some woodsman, caparisoned like a 



