380 PEAIBIE AND FOBEST. 



gravelly or rocky bottoms, and each is a favourite haunt 

 of this fish. 



A friend, once a resident of the Isle of Skye, and a well- 

 known successful trout and salmon fisherman, had a 

 beautiful little lake, about ten acres in extent, on his estate, 

 not many miles from Toronto, which he had stocked with 

 black bass. In a few years their numbers so much in- 

 creased, that, in an hour or two, trolling of an evening, a 

 dozen or more could easily be taken. This lake had neither 

 outlet nor inlet, but was supplied with water from springs 

 in the bottom. 



I fear it will be almost deemed heresy to place this fish 

 on a par with the trout; at least, some such idea I had 

 when I first heard the two compared ; but I am bold, and 

 will go further. I consider he is the superior of the two, 

 for he is equally good as an article of food, and much 

 stronger and untiring in his efforts to escape when 

 hooked. 



A description of a draught of fishes from a favourite 

 black bass pond in Southern Indiana may not be without 

 interest to the reader, as it will give some idea of the 

 varieties to be found in Western waters. 



When returning from shooting pinnated grouse in the 

 State of Illinois, I came upon a party of farmers who were 

 netting a pond on the edge of the timber land. This 

 sheet of water was about two- thirds of a mile long, with 

 an average breadth of one hundred and fifty yards. The 

 bottom was composed of mud, except the southern end, 

 where it was gravel. Only when very high floods occurred 

 in the W abash river was there an outlet or inlet to this 



