ARTIFICIAL FISH PONDS. 105 







are easily transformed into reservoirs of water, well 

 calculated to nourish many sorts offish, especially those 

 native to Scotland. This simple method of construct- 

 ing a preserve is very common in our hilly districts, 

 where Nature, the head architect, provides the greater 

 requisites ; yet on level grounds, with no such inherent 

 advantages, it is, we confess, a matter both of expense 

 and nicety to complete a pond well adapted for the 

 breeding offish. 



Before we discuss the plans most approved of for 

 fish enclosures, we shall briefly notice what sorts of fish 

 thrive best in our northern climate, in order to point 

 out the absurdity of introducing into preserves those 

 more delicate kinds which require a warmer tempe- 

 rature. Of fresh-water fishes, naturalised in, or native 

 to Scotland, the principal are the salmon, char, trout, 

 pike, and perch, with their varieties; our southern dis- 

 tricts afford the bream, roach, and vendace ; but these 

 are confessedly localised, and, except in a few instances, 

 do not exist north of Dumfriesshire, 



The carp, also, and tench, fish much esteemed for 

 stocking waters in England, are met with only as curio- 

 sities among our preserves ; they are rarely known to 

 breed here, and require too much severe attention to 

 repay the trouble of cultivating them to any extent for 

 our tables. In a small pond at Redbraes, adjoining 

 Edinburgh, seven or eight carp have been maintained 

 for several years, along with numbers of perch ; and 

 though of both sexes, no disposition to shed spawn has 

 as yet become apparent ; in fact, it may safely be as- 

 serted by us, judging from what we have heard on the 

 subject, that the carp will not thrive in Scotland, until 

 sgme means be discovered for ameliorating the climate, 

 and giving a soft quality to our waters. 



In a paper by Mr Whyte, land-surveyor at Mintlaw, 



