78 MAKING A FISHERY. 



these will be preferred as food by the otters to 

 any Salmonidcz. Where there is any doubt on 

 the point, as in this case, the safest plan is to 

 take the benefit of it. Hence the advice to be 

 given to the lessee of a fishery is to take every 

 opportunity of shooting or trapping any that 

 may be seen on the' river or bye-streams. If 

 there should be a pack of otterhounds in the 

 neighbourhood, and the necessary permission 

 can be obtained from the farmers, an intimation 

 to the master of the hounds of the presence of 

 otters, and an invitation to fix a d^iy for hunting 

 them on the stream, is an act of politeness which 

 should be rendered to a brother sportsman. 

 Birds as A large number of water birds must be classed 



poachers. . 



among the creatures which prey upon the 

 Salmonidce at various stages. Gulls and other 

 similar species of those bred in the sea are 

 occasionally seen far inland, especially in 

 abnormally cold or rough weather, and should 

 be ruthlessly shot by the keeper. Herons are 

 probably of all indigenous birds the most 

 dangerous enemies of the adult trout, not only 

 destroying what they require as food, but killing 

 and leaving others even when too large for 

 them to eat, seemingly from wanton cruelty. 

 They should of course be kept down, but they 

 are not easy to trap, and do not often venture 

 within range of a man carrying a gun. 



