478 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
Fishing has not been much practised in the Upper Taieri, owing to its 
inaccessibility, so the progress or falling off in its stock of trout cannot well 
be compared with what it was previous to 1878. At the same time both 
large and small fish have been seen about Patearoa, which is ten miles below 
where any were liberated. These were in considerable numbers and in 
weight from 1 1b. to 10 lbs. Also the numbers and weight through the Ser- 
pentine Flat keep up well. But the Lee and Deep Streams have been 
regularly fished, untill 1882-8, when they were nearly forsaken by anglers, 
owing to the lamentable decrease in the number of fish and the consequently 
poor fishing. Now these streams are to a great extent alpine and rock- 
bound, and the water of the Deep Stream is greatly affected by snow water 
till the end of November, so that they cannot contain a very great food 
supply, so far as bottom feeding goes, while the surface food has diminished 
to an extraordinary extent by the almost total disappearance of the pre- 
viously innumerable hosts of grasshoppers. The bottom food of these two 
streams consists mainly of larve, fresh water whelks (Limnea) and crayfish, 
and the great numbers of these which must have been devoured by the trout, 
during the first few years after these waters were stocked with trout, must 
inevitably have reduced the breeding numbers on which the succeeding food 
supply depended. The disappearance of the grasshoppers may be the result 
of grass fires and the presence of starlings, but there is no great certainty 
about the matter, as grass fires were just as common before as after angling 
commenced, and 1 have never seen starlings feeding among the native 
grasses. There are other causes in operation which I believe have had their 
effect too. Neither stream seems to contain good breeding ground, although 
there is plenty of gravel in their upper waters, and the local Society has 
made a mistake in turning out the thousands of young trout too small and 
helpless (half inch to three quarters in length). It was only last summer 
that Mr. Deans, watching a number of these baby trout he had just put into 
a stream in the Oamaru District, actually saw the native bullies seize and 
eat or rather swallow some of them! The first trout ever liberated in these 
streams were strong and well-grown, from two to three inches long, and 
they as we know thrived admirably, as in six years they became numerous 
and had attained a weight in some individuals of 5 and 6 lbs. Pollutions 
from gold-mining have occasionally spoiled the angling, and probably the 
hatching of the ova too. Then we have shags or cormorants haunting the 
Lee and Deep Streams, as well as almost all our other waters. These birds 
live solely on fish, and as the two streams I am at present referring to have 
few native fish, and no migratory smelts at all, the wholesale destruction of 
trout up to a pound in weight is a sad certainty. I have never myself con- 
victed any of these villains from positive proof, unless on one occasion, when 
