THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 51 



not abundant there, and when I did I knew I had half an 

 hour's job on my hands, if not more, as they will fight twice 

 as long as the trout, and with twice the tact and vigor. I 

 feel like the boy who flung back into the water a nice trout, 

 saying he was fishing for eels and not for trout. With an 

 eight ounce rod and a small gnat or midge fly, the chances 

 are in favor of the bass. I have noticed an account some- 

 where, that black bass have been caught in the winter, 

 but I have never seen them caught at that season of the 

 year in this section. ( Where do the black bass go in 

 summer?' asks my fr end, Dr. Henshall. They don't go 

 anywhere. They stay about the reefs and the recesses of 

 the broken and rocky coasts of the lake. The old Hen in 

 the Hen and Chicken group, lying north-westerly from 

 Put-in-Bay, is a favorite resort for them in the months 

 of July and August and early September. I have visited 

 these islands, and, finally, all the rocky shores in these 

 clusters of islands at the head of Lake Erie, where in the 

 waters surrounding them, on a calm day, although I could see 

 most enticing bait or lures placed near their noses, not one 

 would open his mouth ; they would turn up an eye, wag a 

 ventral fin, as if in scorn of the tempting morsel. Any one 

 who has seen a black bass or a speckled trout and observed 

 the gravity of his countenance when declining to take a fish 

 hook in his mouth, the facial expression of disgust and 

 scorn will unrival that of Meg Merrilies, and he will feel as 

 if he was in the presence of more than animal intelligence." 

 There is some doubt about the desirability of introducing 

 these fish into British waters. Unquestionably it would be 

 unwise to put them in good trout or grayling streams, but 

 there are numberless rivers and lakes, dams and ponds 

 where the trout are non est, and which at present yield no 



