i 2 6 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



dations of the poachers for a while, as these, 

 being large, take long to knit. For narrower 

 streams, pretty much the same method as that 

 indicated above is used, only the net is smaller, 

 and to it are attached two poles. The method of 

 working this is precisely similar to that of the 

 last. 



A species of poaching, which the older 

 hands rarely go in for, is that of poisoning. 

 Chloride of lime is the agent most in use, as it 

 does not injure the edible parts. This is thrown 

 into the river where fish are known to lie, and 

 its deadly influence is soon seen. The fish be- 

 come poisoned and weakened, and soon float 

 belly uppermost. This at once renders them 

 conspicuous, and, as they are on the surface of 

 the stream, they are simply lifted out of the water 

 with a landing-net. This is a most wholesale 

 and cowardly method, as it frequently poisons the 

 fish for miles down-stream ; it not only kills 

 the larger fish, but destroys great quantities of 

 immature ones, which are wholly unfit for food. 

 Trout which come by their death in this way 

 have the usually pink parts of a dull white, with 

 the eyes and gills of the same colour, and covered 

 with a thin, white film. This substance is much 

 used in mills on the banks of trout-streams, 

 and probably more fish are destroyed by this kind 



