and on the Salmon Fisheries, 
349 
of tlie pea about their heads p. 109. At such a period, the destruction oc- 
casioned by the heavy ground rope of the coble-nets must be truly great. 
The progress of the fry from their birth-place to the sea, is given in detail 
by several witnesses, all of whom agree in the particulars. The fry, freed 
from the spawn, and now termed smouts or smolts, betake themselves to pools, 
and afterwards proceed, according to circumstances, in myriads along the easy 
water at the margin of the river, with their heads against the stream, until 
they reach the frith where the tide ebbs and flows, where, like the kelts, which 
frequently go down at the same time, they retire to the deepest part of the 
channel, and disappear in the sea. These facts were established upon oath by 
two competent witnesses in the Tay case, and their evidence is recorded in 
the Report, p. 92. The flooded state of the river is most favourable for their 
descent, by supplying depths of water on the shallows or fords. Mr Little 
says, “ The Coleraine or Bann is a late fishery ; and, in the year 1820, in the 
spring of that year, I considered we lost nearly all the fry ; the dry spring did 
not allow them to come down the small rivers ; they were collected into little 
pools, and the people in the country destroyed them ; and in the end of that 
season of 1820 the fishing fell off to 42 tons p. 127. 
The smouts descend during the months of March, April, May, and June. 
Mr Halliday states, “ From the first time that I have observed them, about 
the end of March or beginning of April, they come down until about the 10th 
or 12th of May. I have seen them in the middle of May, and as late as June, 
in a particularly dry season, when the river had not been flooded p. 63. Mr 
Wilson says, “ I think they commence going down about the end of April, 
and finish going down about May p. 10. James Sime, in his deposition in 
the Tay case, “ believes that the fry goes down the river in the month of 
April p. 93. Mr Little declares, that “ they are principally out of the river 
early in M^y p- 115. Mr Johnstone says, “ They have generally reached 
the sea in the month of May. Some reach it in June ; a few p. 36. While 
the fry are in the act of descending to the sea, they are exposed to many ene^ 
?mes^ of which the following are the most destructive. 
A* Coble-nets.-^A.% these engines, according to the present practice, are in 
active operation during the period of the descent of the fry to the sea, we 
may expect such statements as the following. Mr Johnstone says, that smouts 
cannot pass through the coble-net, “ if there be much dirt in it ; and sometimes, 
particularly when there is a number of them, they get broadside on; in particular 
when there is salmon in the net, they prevent the fry from going through so 
easily and the net is loose and not extended, more especially when near the 
edge of the water p. 40. Mr HaUiday says, “ I have dragged a number of 
them on shore with the coble-nets.” “ I have dragged them ashore at the 
Howe’s Pool, on the River Annan ; in the Bridge Pool at the Bridge of An- 
nan, when the boys used to gather them up ; and at the Old Mill Pool I have 
hauled out a good many p. 66. 
B. Angling-<^Kt first sight, one might suppose that the angler was an ene- 
my of but feeble destructive powers. But it appears to be otherwise in fact. 
Mr Wilson says, “ I have seen from my own window upwards of seventy 
or eighty people angling within the distance of half a mile on the Tweed 
p. 1 5. Mr Halhday declares, “ I have killed above twenty dozen with the 
