THE HABITS OF FISH. 51 



the fish, extra that period, have remained mo- 

 tionless. Often, too, I have been fishing for trout 

 in one river, say the Colne, near Uxbridge, and 

 my friends for chub in another, say the Lea, per- 

 haps twenty miles off, and the same thing has 

 occurred. Here, then, it is not likely that a simi- 

 larity of movement among flies could have pro- 

 duced the effect, nor could it have been any acci- 

 dental state of, or change in the water. And, in 

 the case of salmon, observing often the same 

 habit, I am more particularly impressed ; because 

 it is perfectly absurd to suppose they ever take 

 our flies for natural flies (they are surely idiots if 

 they do !), even assuming they take them as food 

 of any kind ; yet many a day have I been out on 

 a river pretty thickly studded with rods, and, up 

 to a given hour, it has been, to us all, for miles 

 up or down, in rapids and in deeps, a perfect 

 blank ; and then, on a sudden, salmon in all parts 

 of the river have simultaneously taken our flies. I 

 am satisfied it is something in the atmosphere af- 

 fecting the water which causes this, and only wish 

 that I had sufficient practice in, and time for, me- 

 teorological observation, that I might investigate 

 the subject by comparing the temperature and 

 weight of the two different elements together, and 

 noting the state of wind, and cloud, and weather, 

 by thermometer, barometer, and hydrometer, when 

 these things happen. Oh ! that I could meet 



