10 



THE SMALL-MOUTHED BASS 



Black-nosed Dace 



away. The experienced angler has no difficulty in recognizing 

 the characteristic strike thus produced. 



Fr e q u ently, 

 when one of a large 

 shoal is hooked 

 and is being played 

 by the angler, who 

 directs its motion 

 to and fro, it will 

 be followed in its 

 rushes by two or three others, sometimes by the entire 

 shoal. Careful observation shews that they do this with 

 no intention or hope of securing the bait, which is usually 

 thrown off the hook if it be a minnow or frog, or else is 

 concealed from view in the mouth of their unfortunate com- 

 panion ; apparently their performance arises merely from a 

 spirit of imitation. 



It seems clear, however, from this strange procedure 

 that the bass when hooked either has no sensation of pain 

 or else is incapable of communicating with his mates; and 

 also, that the latter have no means of realizing that their 

 companion is in distress, a fact which seems contrary to all 

 the laws of self-preservation and instinct. 



The only analogous case, of which I am aware, and one 

 which has always seemed to me inexplicable, is probably 

 familiar to those who have tried to shoot the small fresh 

 water tern, a bird that is extremely wary and rapid in its 

 flight, living on small fish, which it catches along the shores 

 of rocky lakes, hovering above shallow places until it sees a 

 shoal of minnows, when it dives down from a great height, 

 sometimes of forty or fifty feet, and secures its prey alive. 

 One would suppose that such a bird would be en- 

 dowed with remarkable instinct, as it undoubtedly is under 

 ordinary conditions; and yet, if one happens to fire into a 

 flock of them and hits a single bird, its companions imme- 



