CHAP. v. Fish Think. 77 



to take the bait, and they understand the rest. He will take it at the 

 time he considers best for surprising what he conceives to be a live fish, 

 just as you will take your shot when you get a fair view of the shoulder ; 

 though there be a little delay it should be quite as comprehensible to 

 the small fish as it is to the gun-bearer that the master is only waiting 

 his opportunity, for there is a look in his eye that means business, and 

 that is enough. 



Do you doubt that fish have ideas, and are able to communicate 

 them ? It might be proved abundantly that fish can think for them- 

 selves : and that they should be unable to communicate their ideas to 

 each other would be contrary to the analogy of all nature. Let it 

 suffice to ask a few questions which can elicit no reply but that fish can 

 and do think intelligently. Small fish see a large one going to spawn ; 

 they follow her in a crowd, and wait patiently till she has worked out a 

 hollow in the gravel, and commenced to spawn therein, and then they 

 feed busily on the stray ova that are washed down to them. Have they 

 not recognised in the appearance of the female, or in the companionship 

 of the male, an indication that the act of spawning is about to take 

 place ; else why have they assiduously followed her ? Have they not 

 been confirmed in the idea by seeing her working out a hollow in the 

 gravel, else why have they continued to wait upon her ? May be they 

 have done the same before and got a good dinner by it. If so they 

 have memory. May be the majority of them crowd after her simply 

 because they see others do so, and conclude that there is probably 

 something to be gained thereby. If so it is drawing certain conclusions 

 from certain premises, which is the process of reasoning. Anyhow, 

 depend upon it they are no fools, and the angler who hopes to be 

 successful must commence by disabusing his mind of the idea that he 

 has a fool to deal with. Every man that lives from hand to mouth has 

 of necessity to be wide-awake to his immediate surroundings, ever on 

 the alert to notice facts, quick to draw conclusions, and prompt to act 

 upon them. It is the case with civilized man, it is still more markedly 

 so with the savage, while with the animal kingdom it is presumedly the 

 sole field of thought. Still it is the process of thought, a process 

 sometimes followed out through a surprisingly long chain, and fish are 

 no exceptions to the general rule, even though their intelligence, may 

 not be so educated as that of the domesticated animals that have been 

 brought into closer communion with the superior intellect of man ; and 



