t ii \ii. \ i. Predatory Fish ordinarily surpri» their Prey. 71 



"'fur another opportunity.' I am not one of ye giants in natural 

 ■• history, and therefo r e 1 am not going to pit* myself against the 



" Author, as I should only get the worst of it, but I just want to tell 

 '• him that I on two occasions saw Mahseer hunting. 



"< Mi the first occasion I was plaj ing a fish on a long shoh ing Band, 

 " whero I could see my fish some 30 yards off. It was late in the 

 "afternoon, I saw a small fish come full speed from the deep water, 

 "and pass close to my feet (I was standing in about a foot of water), 

 "followed by a Mahsecr who came tearing along until his dorsal fin 

 "stood out of the water. He was so close to me that had 1 not been 

 "playing a fish, I should certainly have tried to throw myself on him 

 "and tried to catch him in that way. He evidently did not see me in 

 " his hurry until he almost ran against me. He appeared to be a fish 

 " of about 25 or 30 lbs. 



" On the second occasion I saw a lot of small fish regularly hunted 

 " into a corner by two Mahseer, and then the gobbling and splashing 

 " that took place must have made it very lively for the little ones." 



■ observations of L. J. certainly militate against my 

 quoted \ iew, and yet I will venture to be "of the same opinion 

 still." Not that I doubt or undervalue L. J.'s observations in the 

 least I accept them fully, and yet I think there is plenty of 

 room for us both to be right. My view, is I think, still the rule ; 

 so it will be seen that I still stand by it, qualifying it only with 

 the one word "ordinarily." Indeed, most general rules have to bo 

 qualified, for animals are not like machines that move with never 

 deviating precision, and are incapable of change. In the matter 

 of the size of the bait, and elsewhere, I have mentioned that the 

 rules which I may have indicated cannot be considered absolute. 

 Nevertheless, it is useful, I think, to indicate what is the ordinary 

 rule, for though animals may deviate from it, we shall have more 

 sport if we fish in accordance with the rule than with the deviation. 

 \_ in, I have been perhaps just a little bit afraid of being tedious 

 ami wanting in connectedness and perspicuity, if I mentioned and 

 argued out every qualification, as in the present one. In the 

 sentence questioned, I have instanced the habits of capture in the 

 dog and cat, but even those instances are not to be accepted 

 without qualification. The dog ordinarily hunts down living game 



• Pitting shut ■ of the question between brothers of the angle. I am 



only vi'i-v niucli obtigi '1 to I.. J. I hope he «ill take in good part mj venturing to bu 

 of the wne opinion still, anil mv reasons therefor. 



