178 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS. 



water. Centuries spent in such conditions could add 

 but little to his experience. 



Does he hear the stream running past him ? Do 

 the particles of water, as they brush his sides and 

 fins, cause a sound, as the wind by us ? While he 

 lurks beneath a weed in the still pool, suddenly a 

 shoal of roach rush by with a sound like a flock of 

 birds whose wings beat the air. The smooth surface 

 of the still water appears to cover an utter silence, 

 but probably to the fish there are ceaseless sounds. 

 Water-fowl feeding in the weedy corners, whose legs 

 depend down into the water and disturb it ; water- 

 rats diving and running along the bottom ; water- 

 beetles moving about; eels in the mud ; the lower 

 parts of flags and aquatic grasses swinging as the 

 breeze ruffles their tips ; the thud, thud of a horse's 

 hoofs, and now and then the more distant roll of 

 a hay-laden waggon. And thunder — how does 

 thunder sound under the surface ? It seems reason- 

 able to suppose that fish possess a wide gamut 

 of hearing since their other senses are necessarily 

 somewhat curtailed, and that they are peculiarly 

 sensitive to vibratory movements is certain from the 

 destruction a charge of dynamite causes if exploded 

 under water. Even in the deep sea the discharge of a 

 torpedo will kill thousands of herrings. They are as 

 it were killed by noise. So that there are grounds 

 for thinking that my quiet jack in the pool, under the 

 bank of the brook, is most keenly alive by his sense 

 of hearing to things that are proceeding both out and 

 in the water. More especially, no doubt, of things in 

 the water itself With all this specialized power of 



