190 



It is a great peculiarity among jacks, that the largest 

 fishes are the most apt to indulge in basking : the blood 

 of all fishes is cold, but I have always thought, and the 

 more I considered it the more was I convinced, that the 

 blood of jacks is peculiarly so. 



Possibly, this is occasioned by their living wholly on 

 animal food -, for the jack does not, I believe, at any 

 season, partake of the vegetable sustenance on which most 

 other fishes, at least partially, subsist. This, however, is 

 completely involved in darkness, and seems to be con- 

 tradicted by the great shyness evinced by jacks at their 

 basking seasons, that is to say, early in the spring, and 

 late in the autumn ; though they may be seen basking 

 even during the summer. At such times they will seize 

 a bait with great seeming eagerness j but for the most 

 part relinquish it instantaneously ! 



When die jacks are thus shy, the angler must take 

 them at the snap ; that is, he must be quick in striking so 

 foon as the bait is seized. This requires a particular ap- 

 paratus, whereby the fish rarely escapes, under proper 

 management. 



The sntip tackle may consist of a single hook, larger 

 and stouter than any within the register, which being 

 fastened to strong gimp, is inserted at the mouth of a 

 gudgeon, or other small fish (the smaller, indeed, the 

 more certain), and brought out either at the middle of its 

 side, or just before the vent. 



But the trelle-snap is by far the best : being made of 

 three such hooks tied fast together, and secured to a 

 piece of gimp ; which being inserted by means of a 

 baiting needle at the vent, and carried out at the mouth, 

 which is afterwards sewed up and perforated by a lip- 

 hook, 



