344 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
* * * * * 
What I have written about my own observations, I have 
written in simple honesty, well knowing that, like some sister 
virtues, honesty must be often for the present disbelieved. I 
appeal to one witness, who seems in no hurry to answer any 
bird-call, but who will probably answer it one day, Picus martius 
himself. 
THE SOLWAY FISH HATCHERY. 
Eieut years ago Mr. J. J. Armistead, who had acquired 
extensive experience as a pisciculturist in the English Lake 
district and elsewhere, was led to establish a fish hatchery on the 
lands of Kinharvie, in the parish of New Abbey,—one of some 
half-dozen that exist in Scotland,—and the interesting and novel 
industry has flourished and grown apace in his skilful hands. To 
the untrained eye the site was a very unpromising one—for the 
most part a rush-covered meadow; but to the specialist it pre- 
sented several important advantages. Most notable of these was 
the command of a water-supply not only constant and abundant, 
but of various quality, for the natural element of the fish is as 
diverse in its constituents and capabilities as the natural element 
of the plant. A water altogether admirable for hatching purposes 
may be totally unsuited for the rearing of plump fish, and vice 
versa. With the Pow Burn on the one hand, and the Tannocks 
Burn and other small streams meandering through the wood on 
the other, and a copious and unfailing spring conveniently at 
hand, Mr. Armistead is able to make choice of the kinds best 
suited for his various experiments. The configuration of the 
ground is also favourable, permitting of the construction of a 
series of ponds at slightly differing levels, and thus facilitating 
the leading of the water-supply from the one to the other. In 
the course of the few years that Mr. Armistead has held it on 
lease—and during great part of which he laboured under the 
disadvantage of residence at Douglas Hall, fifteen miles distant 
—the appearance of the land has been greatly transformed, and 
if it does not yet quite “ blossom as the rose,” it gives abundant 
promise of soon doing so. And now that he has acquired it by 
purchase from Lord Herries, we may expect the work of 
improvement and extension to receive a greater impetus from 
