8 SEA FISH; 



for administration, that little on that head remains to 

 be said; but every thinking man and well-wisher to 

 his country should, to the utmost of his power, aid 

 the efforts of those gentlemen in the suppression of 

 illegal salmon capture : and it is, I feel sure, only by 

 the hearty co-operation of the owners of property 

 with sportsmen and the authorities, that many of our 

 rivers once so rich, now so poor, can ever be restored 

 to their former value; and it is only to be much 

 wondered at that salmon, like wolves, have not been 

 rendered extinct in this island long ago. 



No fish is there perhaps which, from its appearance 

 on the stage of life as a " small fry " to adult salmon- 

 hood, has had so much mechanical skill and con- 

 trivance devoted to its destruction: nets of endless 

 variety of construction, weirs, cribs, hatches, and the 

 spear which deals out death to the wretched fish, even 

 on its spawning bed, have, it is no wonder, done much 

 to thin the race ; still "it is never too late to mend." 

 It will be well perhaps to state, for the information of 

 those of my readers who may wish to know some few of 

 their leading habits and movements, that fresh waters 

 are entered by the salmon and other fish of its kind for 

 the purpose of finding a fitting situation in which to de- 

 posit their spawn, and wonderful and unerring instinct 

 is displayed in the attainment of that end. Boldly 

 entering the crowded harbour, undismayed by the 

 plunging, seething steamer, away past pier-head and 

 bridge, up the muddy tidal stream, shooting the turbid 



