XXIX 



COMMON FISH OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



" Slow efts about the edges sleep ; 



Swift darting water-flies 

 Shoot on the surface ; down the deep 

 Fast following bubbles rise. 



Look down. What groves that scarcely sway ! 



What 'wood obscure/ profound ! 

 What jungle ! where some beast of prey 



Might choose his vantage ground." 



AUSTIN DOBSON. 



" The pleasant' st angling is to see the fish 

 Cut with her golden oars the silver stream." 



Much Ado about Nothing. 



IN such a swamp as that of the greater part of 

 Lower Bengal, very few enclosures of any consider- 

 able size are devoid of ponds, or at least of water- 

 holes of a more or less permanent nature, and hence 

 fish of various kinds form a conspicuous feature in 

 the garden Fauna of the region. A very attractive 

 feature they are, as any one will allow who has 

 ever watched the shoals of little fish that are always 



gliding about in the weedy shallows. Among the 



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