EEL 



to be removed wholesale before the water was freed. 

 When they make their first appearance from the sea, 

 the young are almost thread-like, and one imagines that 

 it must be several years before the adult state is reached. 

 They are often found inhabiting isolated lakes and ponds, 

 and one wonders how, unless artificially introduced, they 

 come to be there unless, as seems proven, they have the 

 power of making their way overland. If this is so, it 

 seems strange that field naturalists so seldom meet with 

 the Eel when engaged upon such journeys. They are 

 very fond of tenanting water that has for its bed a thick 



Common Eel r ig -^o 



deposit of mud, and it is stated that during Winter they 



remain concealed there in a torpid condition. Frozen 



water certainly does not afl:ect them, indeed I have myself 



seen Eels taken from a solid block of ice which have at 



once shown signs of activity when immersed in tepid 



water. It is mostly a nocturnal-feeder, as is proved by 



the number that are caught on Eel-lines and traps put 



out at night. But that it also feeds during the day is 



evidenced by the number caught by anglers on the 



Norfolk Broads and elsewhere. The Eel is a ravenous 



feeder, and when once it is on the feed a number are 



likely to be secured. They are often on " the run " 



during, or after, a thunderstorm, the reason apparently 



77 



