26 



ANGLING FOE COARSE FISH. 



used. Tbe float from whicli the drawing was made is S^in. 

 long. It was a favourite float of the late J. G. Fennell, Author 

 of the "Book of the Roach," and was given me just before 

 his death. 



Of floats there is an endless variety offered to the angler. 

 There are pretty things made up of quill, and beautifully 

 tapered with bone ends ; others of cork — gaudy arrangements 

 of blue and red; 

 and others, again, 

 of reed; but the 

 best, least expens- 

 sive, and most work- 

 manlike floats are 

 quills from the wing- 

 feathers of large 

 birds, such as geese, 

 swans, turkeys, and 

 pelicans. These are 

 buoyant, can-ying, 

 for their size, a 

 large amount of 

 shot, and slide into 

 the water very 

 quickly, without 

 frightening the fish. 

 When a very small 

 float is required, 

 nothing is better 

 than a small por- 

 cupine-quiU, which 

 will cany at most two or three No. 2 shots. If cork floats 

 are used, they should be nicely tapered, and the two ends 

 should be made by a single porcupine-quill ran through the 

 centre of the cork. Fig. 14 represents two sliding floats — 

 one (1) of cork, and the other (2) of quill — so called because 

 they slide down the line. They are kept from slipping too high 

 up the line by a fragment of indiarubber, gut, or a bristle placed 

 on the line, so smaU that it will go through the rings of the 



Fig. 14. Two Sliding Floats. 



