396 BLACK BASS. OSWEGO BASS. 



BLACK BASS FISHING 



IN THE ST. LAWRENCE, 



From the Files of the "Buffalo CommerciaP* I borrow the 

 following description of the habits, haunts, and modes of 

 taking the Black and Oswego Bass — if different they be, as I 

 believe they are — in the Niagara River. It is by the same dis- 

 tinguished sportsman and sound naturalist to whom I have 

 before alluded in my article on the Perch. 



I prefer quoting him to writing of the fish myself; as although 

 not unacquainted with his habits, I have never yet myself 

 enjoyed the pleasure of catching him either with the fly, the 

 spoon, or the shiner : 



" The Oswego Bass and Black Bass bear so strong a resem- 

 blance to each other, that no one fisherman in ten knows them 

 as distinct entities. In form, colour, weight, and habits, the 

 two are almost perfectly identical; and yet their differences, 

 though minute, are striking and essential. An Oswego Bass, 

 when placed by a Black Bass of the same size, is readily dis- 

 tinguished by his more forked tail, his greater thickness of 

 shoulder, his coarser scales, and, above all, by his mouth, which, 

 when open, is nearly twice as large as that of the Black Bass. 

 In Lake Ontario, the Oswego Bass is abundant, and the Black 



