/■/' I 





THE ASIATIC CARP. 



CARP, DACE AND MINNOW. 



When we please to walk abroad, 



For our recreation, 

 In the fields is our abode 

 Full of delectation ; 

 Where in a brook, 

 With a hook, 

 Or in a lake, 

 Fish we take ; 

 There we sit 

 For a bit, 

 Till we fish entangle. 



If the sun's excessive heat 

 Make our bodies swelter, 

 To an osier hedge we get 

 For a friendly shelter ; 

 Where in a dyke, 

 Perch or pike, 

 Roach or dace, 

 We do chase 

 Bleak or gudgeon, 

 Without grudging ; 

 We are still contented. 



Piscator' s Song. 



ALTHOUGH the fishes of the Carp family have received but slight con- 

 sideration from American writers upon angling, I am convinced that 

 they deserve a chapter in this book, on account-of their growing popularity 

 among the great angling-democracy of the nation. They are the favorite 

 fishes of hundreds of thousands of modest fresh-water fishermen, and when 

 this continent shall have become more densely populated, and the oppor- 

 tunities for field sports more restricted, it is hoped that the inhabitants of 

 our cities, through the intervention of law and fish culture, may have 

 opportunities for fishing equal to those now enjoyed by the people of 

 Southern England. When that day comes the Cyprinidae must be counted 

 upon for the principal contribution to their pleasures. 



Our cyprinoids are known to us, for the most part, by old English 

 names — names which are dear to lovers of Waltonian literature, and which 



