196 FISHES I HAVE KNOWN 



soon at work with big fish, and had to play them 

 most carefully, for, when hooked, barbels always 

 try to cut the line with their tails, which are partly 

 serrated. 



After emptying the luncheon-basket, and, I 

 think, the stone jar, we smoked our long church- 



GUDGEON AND BARBEL. 



warden pipes, and, lulled by the sound of the 

 weir, we had a nap. Thus refreshed, we turned 

 our attention exclusively to those lively little fish, 

 the gudgeon, which, if present in force, produce 

 much fun in the catching. They swim in shoals 

 on gravelly bottoms that occasionally have to be 



