92 How, When, and Where to Fish for Mahseer. CHAP. vi. 



to me that had I not been playing a fish I should certainly have tried to 

 throw myself on him and tried to catch him in that way. He evidently did 

 not see me in his hurry until he almost ran against me. He appeared to 

 be a fish of about 25 or 30 Ibs. 



" On the second occasion I saw a lot of small fish regularly hunted 

 into a corner by two Mahseer, and then the gobbling and splashing that 

 took place must have made it very lively for the little ones." 



These observations of L. J. certainly militate against my quoted 

 view, and yet I will venture to be " of the same opinion still." Not 

 that I doubt or undervalue L. J.'s observations in the least. I accept 

 them fully, and yet I think there is plenty of room for us both to be 

 right. My view is, I think, still the rule ; so it will be seen that I still 

 stand by it, qualifying it only with the one word " ordinarily." Indeed, 

 most general rules have to be qualified, for animals are not like 

 machines that move with never deviating precision, and are incapable 

 of change. In the matter of the size of the bait, and elsewhere, I have 

 mentioned that the rules which I may have indicated cannot be 

 considered absolute. Nevertheless, it is useful, I think, to indicate 

 what is the ordinary rule, for though animals may deviate from it, we 

 shall have more sport if we fish in accordance with the rule than with 

 the deviation. Again, I have been perhaps just a little bit afraid of 

 being tedious and wanting in connectedness and perspicuity, if I men- 

 tioned and argued out every qualification, as in the present one. In 

 the sentence questioned, I have instanced the habits of capture in the 

 dog and cat, but even those instances are not to be accepted without 

 qualification. The dog ordinarily hunts down flying game by continuous 

 pursuit, but sometimes, as in efforts to catch birds, it steals up and 

 makes a pounce like a cat. I have known a pair of dogs beat a hedge 

 in this way, one on each side. The cat, too, and the tiger are. not 

 absolute in their ways. At times they will follow up their prey in hot 

 pursuit, and tigers will also drive their prey, as L. J.'s Mahseer drove 

 theirs, into a place where it may be taken at advantage. Tigers will 

 post one of their number in a gorge for others to drive towards. Some 

 friends of mine found themselves being thus quietly edged up. Wild 

 dogs and wolves will thus beat towards their ambushed fellows, yet it 

 will not be objected to that it is the generally accepted view, and it will 

 be admitted as a fair description, that the wild dog and the wolf capture 

 their prey by hunting it down, the cat and the tiger by surprising it. 



