KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



389 



facts which I submit to the consideration of 

 gentlemen having trout-streams ; and I think 

 the due observance of the few recommenda- 

 tions here made, and a strict look-out for 

 poachers at the same time, will enable them 

 to store their rivers and lakes with an abun- 

 dance of these fine fish. No doubt, Mr. 

 Editor, some of your numerous piscatorial 

 readers will be able to offer additional sug- 

 gestions which will be advantageous. 



Sir. George Mackenzie, and after him 

 " Ephemera 1 ' (in his Book of the Salmon), 

 says, that the water-ouzel is very destructive 

 to salmon and trout roe. If he has actually 

 detected this in their crops, after shooting 

 them, I can say nothing more. But if it is 

 supposed that, this is the case because they 

 are frequently seen on the spawning beds, I 

 submit that the probability is that they are 

 doing great good there instead of much harm ; 

 and that in all likelihood they were feeding on 

 the water-lice and aquatic larvae which gene- 

 rally swarm there, and which feed on spawn, 

 whatever water-ouzels may do. I know that 

 at other seasons, water-ouzels feed on these 

 aquatic larvae, as I have had many opportu- 

 nities of observingfrom a building overhanging 

 a stream where they used to feed when they 

 had young; and, notwithstanding Mr. "Water- 

 ton has said that it is impossible for birds to 

 walk at the bottom of the water (because their 

 bodies are of less specific gravity), yet I have 

 seen them do so many a time. Mr. Water- 

 ton probably forgot, that there is a great pro- 

 bability that birds can at pleasure exhaust the 

 supply of air which pervades their bones, and 

 other parts of the body. If they do this, may 

 not the body be then heavier than the water ? 



Salmon and trout can exhaust their air- 

 bladders, in a great measure, as every one 

 who has caught many very well knows. Their 

 place in a pool is frequently betrayed by the 

 air-bubbles which rise from them to the sur- 

 face of the water, particularly after they have 

 been chased for some time. Then, if they 

 cannot get under a stone or root, they will 

 lie as close to the bottom as they can ; and 

 as I suppose, to do this the more readily and 

 effectually, they keep emitting bubbles of air 

 from the mouth (belling as fishermen call it). 

 The otter also, when hard hunted, frequently 

 betrays his whereabouts in the same manner. 



I have said that water-lice and aquatic 

 larvse prey upon the ova of fish ; but it is not 

 so easy to prevent their depredations as it is 

 those of the small fish, which also feed on the 

 roe, because the lice and larvae burrow in the 

 gravel, and penetrate wherever the roe is to 

 be found. In very small brooks, where the 

 trout do not remain long after being hatched, 

 these pests might be destroyed by quick-lime; 

 but the remedy is almost as bad as the dis- 

 ease, because every small trout remaining in 

 the brook, would be destroyed also. The 



best plan, no doubt, is to give the fish plenty 

 of gravel to spawn in, and the ravages of one 

 tribe of depredators (the fish) would be 

 checked. At all events, it is better that the 

 game should be left to the weasels and pole- 

 cats alone, rather than that, in addition to 

 these enemies, they should be preyed upon 

 by foxes, cats, hawks, and carrion-crows. 



I have called these little things water- lice ; 

 but this is for want of a better name (not 

 having a work on Natural History to refer to, 

 which enables me to give the proper one). 

 They are in appearance, or reality, fresh- 

 water shrimps ; and scud about in the water, 

 when disturbed, pretty much in the same 

 manner. The aquatic larvae, which are most 

 destructive, are what are known by anglers 

 as creepers, and are the larvae of the May 

 fly (stone fly of the south of England), and 

 those of the upright-winged flies, known as 

 drakes, which in their turn serve as food for 

 fish, are first-rate flies in the angler's estima- 

 tion. The March brown, which is one of 

 them, rises from the bottom of the water by 

 myriads in sunny days in March and April, 

 and is caught by the trouts as they rise. I 

 have sometimes, when taking my hook out of 

 the mouth of a large trout which had been 

 feeding on these flies, seen him disgorge a 

 mass of them almost as large as my thumb. 

 It is a curious transformation which these 

 creepers undergo ; as, without any chrysalis 

 or dormant state, they change almost in a 

 moment from creeping at the bottom of the 

 water to flying about in the air. 



" Ephemera" says, that salmon will not 

 spawn in fresh gravel. I have never tried 

 them by putting gravel in to tempt them ; but 

 I have already shown that trout will do so ; 

 and salmon will certainly spawn in places 

 where other salmon have done so previously. 

 In all such cases, the gravel is as fresh as that 

 would be which was poured into the stream 

 from a cart ; for the salmon effectually stirs it 

 up from the bottom, and generally the stream 

 is so rapid that the sand and mud have no 

 chance of subsiding ; so that an experienced 

 eye w T ill detect where fish have been spawn- 

 ing by the freshness and brightness of the 

 gravel. 



I may take this opportunity of stating, that 

 I have now great hopes of breeding hybrids 

 between the salmon and the trout. The re- 

 sult of pending experiments in this matter 

 shall be made known at a future day. — T.Gr., 

 Cliiheroe, June 2nd. 



THE SALMON AND ITS GKOWTH. 



Mr. Editor, — Knowing the interest that 



yourself and your readers take in all that 



concerns the Natural History of this noble 



fish, I send you some further particulars. 



n order to ascertain as correctly as may be, 



