CHAP. xxv. Stuffing Fish. 359 



to the very mouth of food, at one time of flies, at another of small 

 slugs, at another of youvg eels. There is no necessity to apply 

 pressure to make them disgorge. Their stomachs were distended, 

 and their last food still unswallowed. And yet they showed no signs 

 of surfeit, for they took my bait and made a much more active fight 

 than a fish in lower condition. I expect a fish with a surfeit is as 

 hard to find as a contented man. I know it is said that over-feeding 

 on sewage makes the roach at places in the Thames so gross that they 

 lose their fertility, but I should think it was highly questionable. All 

 other experience is in favour of rapid growth accompanying liberal 

 feeding in fish, and of maturity and fertility being proportioned to 

 the size of the fish. The best fed salmon-par return to the sea and 

 come back as salmon a whole year before others. As to quality of 

 food, it may be noted that three batches of trout having been fed experi- 

 mentally, one batch exclusively on flies, another on worms, and another 

 on minnows, it was found that the trout fed exclusively on flies showed 

 the most growth and weight, those dieted on worms the next, and 

 those on minnows the least of all. The Loch Leven and other trout 

 might be instanced as profiting by the quality of their food. 



If you have a particularly fine fish, or a new specimen, and want 

 to preserve it by stuffing, it is not a difficult matter, but you must 

 then be more careful about getting it home uninjured. Having washed 

 it clean outside commence by entirely covering both sides with a 

 piece of paper each, pasted on, and allowed to dry. The object of 

 this is to secure the fish from losing any scales in the manipulation 

 of skinning and stuffing. With a knife and stout pair of scissors cut 

 from the top of the gill-opening down to the tail, keeping about half- 

 way between the lateral line and the back. Arrived at the tail, or 

 rather within a quarter of an inch of it, cut down at right angles. 

 Turn down the flap thus made, and thoroughly clean out the fish, 

 not neglecting the head. Remove all the bones, except those of the 

 head. Paint the inside freely with arsenical soap. Stuff tightly but 

 shapely with cotton, remembering that fish shrink dreadfully. Sew 

 up the opening with needle and thread. Wash off the paper; spread 

 out the tail and the fins on the good side and back, with pins and 

 cardboard, so that the rays may be easily counted. Paint over outside 

 with spirits of turpentine, dry in the shade and finally give two coats 

 of varnish. 



