28 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



tice to play, as I am moved to call it, with the 

 fishes nearest by ; or the larger ones to indulge 

 in the more serious sport of swallowing the lit- 

 tle fellows within their reach, exhibiting here a 

 perfect counterpart of one phase of human 

 activities. 



To find fish within fish, even three or four, 

 "telescoped," as it were, big, smaller, little, and 

 wee fish all this is no uncommon occurrence. 

 But to go into particulars makes the whole sub- 

 ject appear ridiculous. I saw lately a fish which 

 reminded me of a pocket spy-glass, short and 

 stout ; but when fish after fish was revealed and 

 placed in a row, then it was like this same spy- 

 glass drawn out until every section was exposed. 

 In this case it was a matter of three fishes, a 

 pike, a mud-minnow, and a very small pike. 

 Equally ravenous at times is the black pirate 

 perch. Tales of horror might be told of the 

 ceaseless warfare that goes on, summer and 

 winter, even in such little brooks as this in 

 the meadow. A few days of unusual warmth 

 reaches down a few inches into the mud and 

 turtles will stretch themselves. The larger pre- 

 datory fishes regain their appetites, and terror 



