KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



355 



And round its rugged basis lay, 

 By time or thunder rent away, 

 Fragments, that, from its frontlet torn, 

 Were mantled now by verdant thorn." 



The same pen that was employed in 

 tracing the description with which I con- 

 clude this account of a " Visit to Brig- 

 nail," was also engaged about the same 

 time in completing Waverley, the first of a 

 series of Tales, destined to immortalise the 

 writer's name. Sir Walter Scott's friend, 

 Mr. Morritt, the owner of Rokeby, was one 

 of the few entrusted with the secret of this 

 authorship, — the great novelist fearing lest 

 his venture was too doubtful of success to 

 warrant him in risking his poetical name. 



POPULAR DISCUSSIONS.* 



No. V.— ON TROUT BREEDING. 



Let me now, Mr. Editor, direct attention 

 to another very interesting inquiry, — the 

 Breeding of Trout, a subject which, when it 

 appears in the Public's " own Journal," can 

 hardly fail to excite a general feeling of 

 curiosity. 



From facts which have come under my 

 own observation, as well as from what I can 

 gather from experienced fishermen, I have 

 reason to think that the destruction of the 

 ova of trout when just deposited by the 

 parents, is very great, particularly in small 

 brooks, which the trout are exceedingly fond 

 of ascending previous to their spawning. 

 No doubt, a great many trout spawn in suit- 

 able places in the rivers in which they have 

 lived during the summer ; and of these, when 

 spawning, I am not able to speak so deci- 

 sively. But a large proportion ascend the 

 small brooks and deposit their spawn in 

 them, and of these I fear comparatively few 

 are hatched ; and as I think a little care and 

 foresight would marvellously help them (I 

 mean in brooks where they are protected 

 from poachers), I make no apology for calling 

 public attention to the subject. 



It is well known that all the Salmonidee 

 bury (or attempt to bury) their ova in the 

 loose gravel of the streams in which they 

 spawn ; whilst grayling, and other scale fish, 

 are content to deposit theirs upon the gravel 

 without attempting to cover it up ; conse- 

 quently, the first thing a pair of trout do 



* Under this head, we invite Contributions 

 similar to the present. The advent of our 

 Journal is, we know, hailed with delight by 

 many who take an intense interest in matters of 

 the kind; and it finds its way into so ver}' many 

 channels at home and abroad, that the Discus- 

 sions likely to take place give promise of much 

 profitable as well as instructive entertainment. 

 Our columns are open to debate ; but conciseness 

 is recommended on all occasions. —Ed. K. J. 



when beginning to spawn, is to root up the 

 gravel in the stream. This serves two good 

 purposes. One is, that all the mud and sand 

 which was previously mixed with the gravel 

 is carried away by the stream, and the gravel 

 remains clean ; and the second is, that the 

 loose gravel which remains serves, when pro- 

 perly prepared, as a safe hybernaculum, in 

 which the spawn is secure from the depreda- 

 tions of small trout, loaches, bullheads, &c, 

 which all prey upon it with the greatest avi- 

 dity. At such times, if you catch them, you 

 will frequently find they are gorged to the 

 throat with roe. 



After this, the gravel is loosened; the 

 female deposits her spawn in the loose 

 gravel; and as the ova are very slightly 

 heavier than the water, they roll down until 

 they come to the interstices of the gravel, 

 into which they penetrate as if they were 

 alive — dropping down until they come to 

 something like a solid bottom, where they 

 are effectually secured from the small trout 

 and other fish which prey upon them. Yet 

 there are other enemies in the shape of 

 water-lice, and the larvae of aquatic insects, 

 which can and do find them even there. 



But now for the evil and its remedy, which 

 we seem at present to have lost sight of. 

 The small brooks in which trout spawn, are 

 frequently so deficient in gravel that the 

 trout have great difficulty in finding spots 

 where they can stir up as much gravel as 

 will cover the ova when deposited ; and when 

 they have succeeded in doing this, and retire, 

 there will come frequently another pair of 

 trout immediately after ; and as, for want of 

 conveniences of this kind, they are limited to 

 few spots, they probably begin to stir up the 

 gravel which had been used by the first pair 

 of fish. The consequence is, that the spawn 

 which lay there is disturbed ; it rolls away 

 with the stream until it is carried below the 

 loosened gravel, and lies on the surface of 

 the hard bed of the brook below, a prey to 

 anything that will eat it. The enemy is 

 ever on the alert. No sooner does a grain or 

 two of this come within the scent of another 

 trout, than he rises up like a wild beast at 

 feeding time ; and he will gorge himself (if 

 he has the chance of doing so) up to the very 

 throat. In such situations, a careful ob- 

 server may generally find the small trout 

 which don't spawn (like waiters on Pro- 

 vidence), waiting just below the spawning 

 beds, ready for every egg which rolls below 

 the loosened gravel. 



The remedy is very easy in such brooks. 

 In each of the streams, or in as many as it 

 can be conveniently done, let a cartload of 

 sharp, pebbly gravel (varying in the size of 

 the pebbles from a hazel nut to a pheasant's 

 egg) be deposited ; level it down with a 

 spade so that the water will flow equally 

 over it to the depth of three or four inches, 



