98 THE SALMON. 



reacted the spawning beds, they are peculiarly exposed 

 to the cruel spear. At night, by this instrument, with 

 the aid of flambeaux, hundreds may be killed and many 

 more wounded and left to perish miserably. If they are 

 to continue in reasonable numbers, nets must not be set 

 close together, the spawning beds must be undisturbed, 

 and the murderous spear utterly prohibited. With 

 these precautions and a regulation concerning the sized 

 mesh that is used, this valuable source of pleasure, health 

 and profit may not only be retained but indefinitely 

 augmented; without such care the day is not far off 

 when " the places that knew them will know them no 

 more," when their bright sides will no longer gleam 

 beneath the waves or glisten as they gambol in the sun- 

 light, when the nets will cease to yield a return, when 

 the fishermen, longing regretfully for their most valuable 

 prize, will find their occupation gone, and honest and 

 dishonest, fair fisherman and sneaking poacher, alike be 

 overwhelmed in one common ruin. Surely we have too 

 much good sense, too much public spirit, too much 

 energy and determination to submit to such a calamity ; 

 let us unite, then, in repressing unseasonable and unlaw- 

 ful fishing, in preserving and protecting the fish, and in 

 restoring ravers that have been exhausted. 



In the salt water, salmon never take the fiy, and rarely 

 bait of any kiud, although they feed on sand eels and 

 small fish in addition to shell-fish ; but as they advance 

 into brackish or fresh water, they either miss their natu- 

 ral food and become hungry, or get accustomed to feed- 

 ing on grasshoppers and insects, and are deceived by the 

 artificial fly, and will at times take the bait. 



