INTRODUCTION 



YEAR by year nature study becomes more and more 

 popular, and countless books continue to appear describ- 

 ing the life histories of animals, birds and insects, but 

 descriptions of fish life do not seem to have had their 

 fair share of attention. 



This is not because fish are less interesting than 

 birds or mammals, but chiefly because of the difficulty 

 of observing them in their native element. 



I have endeavoured in this book to show how fish 

 reveal to the observer their intentions and emotions 

 by attitudes, movements and changes in colour. I 

 have described the eggs and the early life histories 

 of a few of our commoner fishes, and how the adult 

 fish is assisted in the battle for existence by concealing 

 coloration and other devices. The habits of a few 

 marine animals have been dealt with, and finally I have 

 explained in detail how the various photographs shown 

 have been obtained, in the hope that the information 

 may be of assistance to those interested in fish photo- 

 graphy. 



If observations and illustrations of concealing 

 methods are to be of any real interest, it is necessary 

 that fish should be watched and photographed while 



