FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



chief when he sat down by the side of the hole, 

 and by giving a shrill sort of a whistle, has brought 

 out an enormous eel, which has moved about the 

 surface of the water, and eaten with confidence 

 out of its master's hand." 



The consumption of eels in the city of London 

 is enormous, thousands of tons being brought to 

 that city from Holland, where they are bred in 

 the canals. In the United States, they are not 

 yet highly esteemed as food, except among the 

 gourmets. 



Eels migrate in the autumn down the rivers to 

 the warm brackish water, which is often of higher 

 temperature than the river or the sea. They 

 bury themselves in the mud during severe weather. 

 They have been known on occasion to leave the 

 water at night, and travel some distance across 

 country to another stream. By means of a long 

 and capacious air bladder, they rise in the water 

 according to their inclination. They are capable 

 of enduring extreme cold, and frequently regain 

 vitality after having been apparently frozen. 



It is believed that after migrating down the 

 river, the eel deposits its spawn early in the spring, 

 and that the parent fish seldom returns up the 

 stream, although the great bulk of the young do 

 so. An old English writer says : " The passage 

 238 



