186 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



THE COMMON EEL. 



Anguilla communis. 



I cannot say that Mr. Billy Allen, wlio kept a tavern at 

 Culpepper Court House, Virginia, many years ago, had a 

 very extensive knowledge of the natural sciences ; but he 

 sagely remarked on one occasion, that a Mink was " a great 

 incendiary to a hen-house!" Quoting the aforesaid authority, 

 I might pronounce the Eel a great incendiary to a fishing-line. 

 Knots and slime ! how often he has brought the youthful 

 angler to grief! 



It is astonishing how many knots a nimble little Eel, of a 

 half yard long, can tie in a boy's line, from the time he is 

 landed, until he is taken off the hook, or until his head is cut 

 off. There are hard knots and bow knots, single knots and 

 double knots, all cemented with the pervading slime. The 

 last resort of the little angler is, to do as Alexander the 

 Great did with the Gordian Knot ; and take out his jack- 

 knife and cut his line ; thus reducing the many knots to one. 



Albeit the Eel is a " slippery fellow,^'' there are several facts 

 in its natural history which are interesting. One is, that it 

 spawns in salt or brackish water, and migrates to fresh water ; 

 the very reverse of Shad, Herring, and Salmon. 



Young Eela are found all along shore in fresh tidewater 

 streams, in this latitude, in April or May, by turning over a 

 stone, when they shoot out and seek another hiding-place for 

 the time ; at that season oi the year they are not larger than 

 a darning-needle and quite transparent, showing their vital 



