358 On the Naturul History of the Salmon^ 
spawned,” then no fishings should be allowed, even in a rivei\ 
below the lowest spaxming-forf such as Lord Gray’s, where 
there is no spawning-ground. Again, upon the same principle, 
no fishing should be allowed, even at the lowest spawning-ford, 
because the proprietor may capture fish there in which he has 
no interest, which were not spav/ned on his ground, but which 
in fact belong to a higher ford. Hence, the Town of Perth 
should not be permitted to, fish their fords, least they catch (as 
they would do) salmon belonging to the spawning-fords of his 
Grace of Athole. The proprietor of the uppermost spawning- 
ford is alone safe from this objection (though a straggler from a 
losver ford would occasionally find its way into his net), and 
should he the only fisher in the river ^ — a conclusion which the 
deservedly celebrated individual did not probably anticipate. It 
seems necessary to speak freely, lest the influence of name 
should give currency to mistake. 
The determination of the stations where stake-nets may with 
propriety be erected, near the mouths of rivers, seems not as yet 
to have occupied much of the attention of the Committee. Mr 
Little, indeed, is the only witness who delivers his opinion on 
the subject. He assumes, as had been proven in the Tay case 
by that acute engineer Mr Jardine, that the river ends at that 
pomt in the head of a frith where the sea is continually ebbing 
or flowing, or, to speak plainly, at low-xmier marie; and he 
says, above that place, or within half a mile from it, down the 
estuary, or along the coast, no stake- nets should be allowed 
p. 1^^3. This pointy w^e may observe, must vary more or less 
in different rivers, from the mean level of the ocean, according 
to the size of the aperture or mouth of the estuary through 
which the tide enters and retires, and the quantity of water 
in the river opposed to it. A slight difference must likev^ise 
prevail between the low-water of spring-tides and of neap-tides, 
though Mr Jardine has proven, that the horizontal lines repre- 
senting these gradually approximate in retiring from the mouth 
of an estuary to its head. But these differences do not perhaps 
deserve any very serious consideration. Indeed, w*e see no ob- 
jection to the use of stake-nets every where below this point. 
The fry and the kelts would not be taken by them, and as the 
channel or stream would be clear, no fish intent on ascending 
would be prevented. But it does not appear upon what prin- 
