112 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



in no wise disturbed. Mr. Rat was no sooner on land than he des- 

 patched the fish with several vicious bites, and disappeared beneath an 

 old disused "britain" board, which, as it stood slightly on edge, afforded 

 some sort of capacious covert. 



At this moment a kingfisher, as apparently oblivious of my presence 

 as the rat had been, like a flash of azure light darted into the water quite 

 close to the scene of the former's proceedings, and as instantly as the 

 rat again appeared with a roach quite as big as itself, and, after hovering 

 a few moments with its burden, settled on a piece of wood lying in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the rat's quarters. 



I was greatly amused at the little bird's method of killing its prey. 

 By a series of tiny movements it shifted the hold of its bill from where 

 it had been near the head of the fish to the region of the anal fin, and 

 then, with vigorous skill, began to batter the head of the roach against 

 the wood on which it was perched. In the meantime his ratship had 

 not been idle, and at this juncture I could perceive his villainous glistening 

 eyes fixed on the beautiful bird and its prey, himself not more than three 

 inches distant. For some seconds he watched the process of execution 

 as the movements of the struggling fish became fainter and fainter. 

 When they totally ceased, with a sort of swift bound he was upon the 

 kingfisher ; it dropped the fish and sped away in fright, leaving Mr. Eat 

 master of the situation. He immediately, with business-like celerity, 

 also disappeared as before, carrying his ill-gotten gains with him. 



Wishing to see if he actually ate the roach, I approached his hiding 

 place, and, on lifting up the board, counted no less than ninety-five 

 roach, almost all whole, with the exception of their eyes, which had been 

 picked out of the sockets by this voracious creature. 



At the spawning time roach are exceedingly delicate, and die almost 

 immediately when taken out of the water. On several occasions I have 

 been astonished to find them on being handled at this period suddenly 

 become rigid from head to tail, as if seized with a species of rigor mortis. 

 They may be broken in half when in this state, but not bent to any 

 appreciable extent. After death proper they become somewhat more 

 flexible. 



I am disposed to think that the sexes of these fish, in rivers 

 especially, when spawning, proceed apart in shoals for the consummation 

 of the process. Thus the females first, in an extensive swarm probably, 

 and the males following after the females have shed their ova for its 

 impregnation. I have observed also that the males only assume the 

 cataleptic condition above referred to. After the debilitating conditions 

 of the spawning season, possibly as a recuperative means, the roach seek 

 the silk -weed, or Conferva rivualis, of which they at nearly all seasons 



