INTRODUCTION 



"Of Recreation there is none 

 So free as Fishing is alone; 

 All other Pastimes do no less 

 Than Mind and Body both possess; 

 My Hand alone my Work can do, 

 So I can fish and study too." 



THE aim of this book is to furnish that which well-informed 

 men and women, and those who desire to become well informed, 

 might wish to know of the food and game fishes which inhabit 

 American waters. Though primarily a popular treatise, its method 

 is in part technical, for the characters we call "technical" are the 

 ones we can trust in distinguishing one fish or group of fishes from 

 another. These distinctions are the ones established by Nature 

 herself, and the study of natural objects is useful to us in the degree 

 that we are willing to overlook artificial or temporary characters in 

 our search for real ones. Thus to know that a salmon has red flesh 

 and a pike white flesh is to know nothing about either salmon or 

 pike. The real differences appear on comparison of the fins, the 

 teeth, the skeleton, and the facts we have gained as to the origin 

 of the different forms. The use of technical terms therefore finds 

 its justification in that the facts they set forth would be unintel- 

 legible without them. But the technical terms used in describing 

 a fish are no more difficult to understand than those used in describ- 

 ing anything else. 



Head, snout, maxillary, jaw, fins, and the like are quite as 

 simple as head, nose, arm and foot used in naming the parts of 

 our own body; or petal,- stamen, stem, leaf and pistil in describing 

 a flower. To understand or to be able to study any subject one 

 must necessarily know something of the language of that subject. 

 A book which does not take for granted a certain amount of 

 intelligence on the part of the reader has no excuse for being. 

 This book presupposes on the part of the reader a knowledge 

 of ordinary English, as used by Americans of fairly good education, 

 and a willingness to make an honest effort to find out more about 

 the food and game fishes of our country. 



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