no BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



crustacean can be found. But the economy of 

 the otter ought not to be overlooked in connec- 

 tion with our fish supply. Probably its increasing 

 rarity has as much to do with disease as had 

 the extermination of the nobler birds of prey 

 with the grouse disease. A falcon always takes 

 the easiest flight at its prey;^ the otter, when 

 fishing, captures the slowest fish. In each case 

 they kill off the weakest, the most diseased, and 

 thereby secure the survival of the fittest. Cor- 

 porations are to blame in another particular. In 

 seeking to prevent floods, all obstacles natural 

 boulders, rocks, and the trunks of trees are 

 removed from the river bed. This takes away 

 the harbours of the fish without succeeding in its 

 object ; for the old and disused weirs that exist on 

 many trout-streams are important factors in pre- 

 venting the rapid flow of water. Another thing 

 to be considered is the nature of the dressings 

 put on land in the shape of manure. The soluble 

 parts, often poisonous, are carried by the rains 

 into the stream ; and, nowadays, drainage is rapid 

 much more so than formerly, when streams 

 took days to rise and fall. This brought food ; 

 but now surface-water is quickly directed into 

 channels, and as quickly conveyed into the river. 



* This has been denied from an authoritative quarter, but I 

 prefer to let the statement stand. 



