Uneasy Fish They have appreciated the efforts, but it is
alleged their nature has been altered by the new conditions. The height of the river varies with great rapidity according to the activity of the turbines for whose sake the harnessing was accomplished. No great rain or drought brings about so quick a variation in level, and the salmon are rendered uneasy, omne ignotum pro malefic°. Their world is strange and frightening. Such is the explanation given by psychological fishermen for the obstinate refusal of the salmon who have mounted the new ladders to take the fly. Never before, it is averred, were fish so shy or so little hungry. They are particularly visible, and few things are more galling to a fisherman who fancies his skill than the sight of fish lying in pools or leaping c!ear of the water when he is spending vain hour after vain hour in the attempt to attract them to his lure. I had myself an experience of this feeling last week in Ireland. As we sat down to tea by the banks of the river after a futile afternoon, fish after fish leapt into the air as if in pure derision. They broke up the meal, but the waters were flogged as vainly in the evening as the after- noon. It would be interesting to know whether the sudden changes in the water level are the cause of unsuccessful fishing, for in many rivers a sudden flush of water may offer the most favourable of all conditions.
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