70 I'ISH HATCHIKG. 



ticularly In ponds and in the river Thames, 

 where they do incalculable mischief to the 

 fisheries, and slay their miUions, gobbhng up 

 the newly-laid spawn with their long beaks 

 and spoon-Hke bills. In 1861, 1 was deputed 

 to report, with the late lamented Mr. Arthur 

 Smith, upon this point, and we sent in a 

 report to the British Fisheries Preservation 

 Association, recording our actual observations 

 of these poachers, taken when they were at 

 work, for which purpose we made a voyage 

 on the Thames, near Windsor. I myself, 

 therefore, am fully convinced of the immensity 

 of harm they do to the Thames, but I prefer 

 calling other witnesses as well, for the subject 

 has been well ventilated in "The Field," 

 and every year it turns up again about the 

 end of April or beginning of May. 



