HOW FISHES FEED. 79 



forms of living things. We ourselves, consciously 

 or unconsciously act upon the knowledge of this 

 fact, as we are told the serpent did of old to 

 beguile the unwary. ^One of the first queries we 

 make about any strange animal is : What does it 

 feed on ? Next : how does it procure its food 1 

 Often we have to depend largely, if not entirely, 

 upon our stock of knowledge of this kind for the 

 capture of other creatures, either for our personal 

 wants or to satisfy our deep-rooted love of killing 

 something. This is especially true of the capture 

 of fishes, and none will be more convinced of 

 this than the angler. A successful angler must 

 know much, not only of the nature of a fish's 

 food, but also of the faculties employed in its 

 discovery. He acts upon the old proverb: "The 

 belly hath no ears when hunger comes upon it." 

 It is difficult to say whether sight or smell 

 play the most important part in the capture 

 of food amongst the fishes. There seems to be 

 no doubt but that many fishes depend mainly^ 

 though not entirely, upon sight for the capture 

 of their food. The success of the fly-fishers is a 

 sufficient proof of this. The salmon, for instance, 

 it is regarded as unsportsmanlike to take by any 

 other means than with the " fly," except under 

 special circumstances. This fly is cunningly 

 devised of feathers, so as to imitate as nearly as 

 possible some real fly well known and esteemed 

 by the fish. There can be no doubt that sight, 

 not smell, is the broken reed upon which the 

 poor victim trusted in cases where this deceit is 

 successful. But salmon apparently sometimes 

 hunt by smell as well as by sight. Thus, old 



