THE MINNOW 143 
except where it has been introduced artificially in the neighbour- 
hood of Whithorn. 
I have eaten minnows, but it was many, many years 
ago, as an Eton boy—a truly omnivorous animal—and 
I am not impatient to repeat the experiment. Howbeit 
the old writers commend them; Izaak Walton giving 
elaborate instructions how to make a minnow-tansy, wherein 
the fish being gutted, but not washed, must be fried with 
yolk of eggs, cowslips, primrose, and tansy. William of 
Wykeham gave a great banquet at Winchester to Richard II. 
and Queen Anne, and among the fish served were seven 
gallons of minnows, costing 11s. 8d. Frank Buckland, 
who quotes this instance, speaks well of minnows fried as 
whitebait or pickled, but persons so treating them should 
insist upon their being thoroughly cooked, forasmuch as, 
in common with all the carps, these little fish are infested 
with dangerous internal parasites. 
Notwithstanding the small culinary repute accorded to 
minnows in modern days, they are of a high economic 
value as food for larger fish, and may be safely and profitably - 
introduced into all streams where they are not native. The 
easiest way to take them is with a shallow net attached 
to an iron hoop two or three feet in diameter, weighted by 
a bullet in the middle. A scrap of red cloth may be tied 
within the net to attract them; and the net must be 
suspended from a pole, and lowered into the water where 
minnows abound. They will scatter in alarm, but will soon 
return, and, inspired by irresistible curiosity, will gather 
thickly over the net, minutely inspecting every knot and 
the bit of red cloth. As soon as they are busy discussing 
the novelty and testing its edible qualities, raise the pole 
quickly and you secure the whole company. 
