14 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



were to be taken during that time, so I should suppose that 

 was the time they enjoyed their nap. 



Can a fish feel pain when hooked ? is another question 

 that has often been discussed by anglers and writers. Fish 

 certainly seem to feel no pain from hooks stuck in their 

 mouths, for I have caught the shy and cautious chub with a 

 hook and little bit of gut attached to their mouths that 

 looked as though some one had hooked and broken off only 

 a few hours before. We have often heard of jack being 

 hooked, played, and lost, and yet take a bait again on the 

 same day. Cold-blooded animals do not feel pain in the 

 same manner that warm-blooded ones do, and the lower the 

 animal organization the less sensibility to pain it has. I once 

 read two or three lines which ought to be set down as a com- 

 plete untruth : — 



" The poor beetle which we tread upon, 

 In corporal sufferance feels a pang 

 As great as when a giant dies." 



That is a tale that won't wash with me ; when a fish is 

 hooked, and is bolting about, and struggling for his liberty, 

 perhaps the only feeling he has at that time is a feeling 

 of indignation at having his liberty interfered with. What 

 the sensations of a fish are when he is jumping about on 

 the grass, after being drawn out of the water, 'we cannot tell ; 

 not very pleasant perhaps, and it would be as well for the 

 thoughtful angler just to give him a tap on the head directly 

 on landing him, and so, as the old saw goes, " put him out of 

 his misery." 



Are fish gifted with the senses of taste and smell? is 

 another question which is often asked. We must presume 

 that they are, although some naturalists aver they cannot 

 smell at all, while others say, " they can smell their food at 

 a singular distance, and will track it for many yards." Eonalds 



