n8 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



The first and great destruction takes place on the 

 " redds." Everywhere over these are tiny raised 

 heaps of gravel, sheltering the spawn. But the 

 shelter is insufficient to guard it from devouring 

 enemies. These are in the air, on the land, 

 in the water. Many members of the hungry 

 Salmonidce themselves prey on the spawn, and it 

 is difficult to cope with them. Bunches of wild 

 duck and teal seek out the " redds " in autumn, 

 and feed on right through the night unless dis- 

 turbed. Thither, too, as I have daily witnessed, 

 the swan leads her cygnets ; and it is known that 

 one of these large birds will destroy nearly a 

 gallon of ova in a day. "My swan and her crew" 

 would have disposed of 2,400,000 eggs in that 

 time. I know now of more than one northern 

 trout-stream which has been totally depopulated 

 of fish simply by the large number of water-fowl 

 kept upon them. There are many fish that never 

 spawn, and these, together with the growing 

 yearlings, are always on the look-out for eggs 

 over the reaches. Sometimes the parent itself 

 will destroy the spawn. Secreted among the 

 thick herbage of the river-bank, I have been at 

 pains to find out which were the worst enemies 

 of the Salmonidce, and, to make these observations 

 the more accurate, I have shot and afterwards 

 carefully examined the creatures that haunt the 



