O'li FACT AGAINST FICTIOX. 



little nest upon the groimd, as if to bear from 

 above a dewclrop on his Aving to 2)ay his loving 

 homage to his brooding mate. 



This rm-al life, so loved and followed, pm-sued 

 imder judicious guidance, and the close study 

 of every living thing, puts me in possession of 

 many little facts, small in individuality, but large 

 in the aa^2:reo:ate, which seem never to have been 

 known to the old and now obsolete naturalists. 



I can at once answer the question of what 

 led to the vulgar error, by one of our old poets 

 poetically used, as to the ' ' tench being the phy- 

 sician of the waters," other fish seeking to ^' rub 

 aofainst his healinsr sides." A casual observer 

 might be inclined to that poetical delusion by 

 seeing two tench, male and female, in the act 

 of spaAvning. If the surface weeds in the water 

 had been cut and removed, the tench would seek 

 the brink of the shore, and the overhanging grass 

 that depends from the bank to the surface, at 

 some little depth in the water, and there may 

 be seen two backs, one slightly below the otlier, 

 swimming, and gliding, and floundering along in 

 contact, tlie one, from its position, being more 

 visible than the other. These fish are both tench, 



