A Devour 'er of Fish Fry. 161 



encounters, with a display of passion fierce as that 

 which rages in the breasts of bigger animals even of 

 man himself. 



A DEVOURER OF FISH FRY. 



The "dipper" is a great destroyer of little fish; and 

 those engaged in pisciculture had need be on their guard 

 against it. Proof of its voracious appetite has been 

 lately furnished me by the behaviour of a pair of dab- 

 chicks that had their home on an artificial pond in the 

 park of one of my friends living near. This pond, or 

 lakelet, is fed by a running stream, and the owner wish- 

 ing to stock it with trout, had some thousands of the fry 

 of this fish put into it. For a time they seemed to do 

 well ; but then it was noticed that, day after day, they 

 were decreasing in numbers, until at length only a few 

 could be seen. At first there was some surprise at their 

 disappearance, with mystery. But ere long the cause 

 declared itself, on the dabchicks being watched in their 

 diving; when it was discovered that each time one went 

 under a young trout was brought up in its beak, and 

 swallowed without ceremony. They had, in fact, been 

 all along living on the fry as their almost exclusive diet. 

 ^Bstheticism pleaded hard for retaining the dabchicks, 

 as an ornament to the water, and on account of their 

 quaint, curious ways. But more material tastes pre- 

 vailed, to the destruction of the birds, for the preserva- 

 tion of the fish. 



