THE SENSES OF FISHES. 27 



It occurred on one of Queen Victoria's birthdays. Wind- 

 sor Park, England, possesses a beautiful ornamental lake 

 named Virginia Water, and located on this is a miniature 

 frigate of twenty-one guns five-pounders, I think. On 

 each royal birthday it is customary to fire a salute with 

 these, and on the occasion of which I speak the small fish, 

 roach, etc., were in shoals of hundreds of thousands near 

 the surface of the water surrounding the vessel. This is 

 not uncommon on a still, fine day the lake being so 

 overwhelmingly full of the little fellows. The salute was 

 fired, gun after gun, at minute intervals, and the vibra- 

 tory reverberating boom seemed to startle the small fish, 

 and all around the vessel the water broke into ripples, as 

 if stirred by wind, as each report was fired. Now this 

 seems as if the fish heard the sound and didn't approve 

 of it ; but if we look deeper, it is possible nay, probable 

 that the mechanical shock of sound was strong enough 

 to make itself felt in the layer of water which is most 

 laden with atmospheric air namely, the top or surface. 



Of course the vibration of the vessel itself from the re- 

 coil may have been the true cause, and is the solution of 

 the matter I most favor. Shortly, my experience is that 

 you may whistle, laugh, sing and talk I except " cus- 

 sing " but you must not stamp your feet in the boat or 

 on the bank if you desire to capture trout. 



Against my opinion that fish* cannot hear sounds in 

 air is David Foster's ("Scientific Angler") funny refer- 

 ence to a friend who always took a musical box to sit on, 

 and this he set going while he fished. A veritable Syb- 

 arite in angling like this ought to catch a good string. A 

 far greater example, however, of different opinion is that 



