HOW FISHES FEED. 81 



usually to be ready for a meal, and on almost 

 all occasions when anything eatable is thrown 

 into the tank in which it is swimming, it rushes 

 towards it and bolts it. It does not hesitate to 

 take stale food, or food that has been steeped 

 long in strong -smelling fluids; and time after 

 time I have been amused to see its too late 

 repentance, after it had swallowed clams that 

 had been saturated with alcohol, chloroform, 

 turpentine, etc. It is only when it is satiated 

 with fresh food, or disgusted with what is 

 nauseous, that it takes the precaution to smell 

 before eating. On the other hand, various fish 

 that are equally keen- sighted, and habitually 

 recognise their food by the use of their eyes, are 

 more prudent. The whiting (Gadus merlangus), 

 for instance, appears to pay much more attention 

 to smell, and, as a rule, turns about and with- 

 draws on approaching within a few inches of 

 high-smelling objects that the pollack would take 

 without hesitation. Even whiting, however, 

 cease to be delicate if they are very hungry, and 

 if other fish are present to compete for the food 

 that is thrown to them. In such circumstances 

 bait that is very distasteful may be taken by 

 even the most cautious of sight-feeders; and 

 likewise, in such circumstances, a quite odourless 

 artificial bait may be successfully employed. 

 Where large shoals of fish are, there are likely 

 to be many that are very hungry, and the con- 

 sequent keen competition will lead to hasty 

 feeding by sight alone ; and hence it is, probably, 

 that lead-baits are successfully employed in cod- 

 fishing in the Moray Firth and off the northern 

 F 



