PRICKED TROUT. 33 



Hal. — I do not think he saw either the 

 gut or the hook. In very bright weather 

 and water, I have known very shy fish refuse 

 even a hook baited with the natural fly, 

 scared probably by some appearance of hook 

 or gut. The vision of fishes when the sur- 

 face is not ruffled is sufficiently keen. I have 

 seen them rise at gnats so small as to be 

 scarcely visible to my eye. 



Phys. — You just now said, that a fish 

 pricked by the hook of an artificial fly would 

 not usually take it again that season. 



Hal. — I cannot be exact on that point: I 

 have known a fish that I have pricked retain 

 his station in the river, and refuse the artifi- 

 cial fly, day after day, for weeks together ; 

 but his memory may have been kept awake 

 by this practice, and the recollection seems 

 local and associated with surrounding ob- 

 jects; and if a pricked trout is chased into 

 another pool, he will, I believe, soon again 

 take the artificial fly. Or if the objects 

 around him are changed, as in Autumn, by 

 the decay of weeds, or by their being cut, 



D 



