WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 363 



then some labourer passing by on a sunny day, when 

 jack approach the shore and bask near the surface, 

 declares that he has seen one as big as a man's leg. 

 But about the vast number of ordinary -sized jack 

 there can be no doubt at all ; since any one may see 

 them who will stroll by the water's edge on a bright, 

 warm day, taking care to walk slowly and not to jar 

 the ground or let his shadow fall on the water before 

 he can glance round the willows and bushes. Jack 

 may then be seen basking by the weeds. 



When an exceptionally long continuance of dry 

 weather forces all the fish to retire to the few acres of 

 water that remain, then these voracious brutes do as 

 they please with the other fish, and the roach especially 

 suffer. Every two or three minutes the fry may be 

 seen leaping into the air in the effort to escape, twenty 

 or thirty at a time, and falling with a splash. The 

 rush of hundreds and hundreds of roach causes a wave 

 upon the surface which shows the course they take. 

 This wave never ceases : as soon as it sinks here it 

 rises yonder, and so on through the twenty-four hours, 

 day and night. 



The miserable fish, flying for their lives, speed 

 towards the shallow water, and often, unable to stop 

 themselves, are carried by their impetus out on the 

 mud and lie there on the land for a few seconds till 

 they leap back again. Even the jack will sometimes 

 run himself aground in the eagerness of his pursuit. 

 Looking over the pool, the splash of the falling fish 

 as they descend after the leap into the air may be 



