THE HABITS AND HAUNTS OF FISH. 



in full view, in clear relief upon a high bank, on keeping 

 perfectly stationary for fifty to seventy minutes,* they 

 have again ventured into the open to take our fly. From 

 a constant repetition of convincing experiments, we have 

 been led to infer that the crystalline and various other 

 humors of a fish's eye are capable of reflecting only a 

 vague and distorted image of any object that may be 

 even a yard from the water's surface. We have stood 

 over the center of* a stream, upon a narrow plank, placed 

 within a few inches of the surface of the water, perfectly 

 motionless, just as the fish have turned out of their 

 usual haunts to poise near the surface, and feed on the 

 flies which have suddenly become plentiful. So long as 

 our perpendicular position was maintained, the fish rose 

 fearlessly all around to our very feet, but the least move- 

 ment had the effect of affrighting all the fish in the im- 

 mediate vicinity. 



But, notwithstanding all this, it must not be forgot- 

 ten that the organ of sight is the most important in 

 their possession, and not only their food supply, but 

 their very existence is dependent upon its proper exer- 

 cise. True it is that constant practice, in a measure, 

 develops their ocular faculties; and as acuteness of vis- 

 ion increases the natural timidity of the trout, so surely 

 does he gradually decline surface feeding, preying upon 

 fry and the smaller yearling fish, as also upon the larvae 

 of aquatic insects, etc., thus showing reliance on his 

 greater powers of discernment in his own element. In 

 comparatively clear and still water, the old corpulent 

 denizens of the limpid depths thus exhibit the most pro- 

 voking discretion, defying frequently the rodster's best 

 efforts to allure. 



The superior power of vision the fish has in its own 



* This is certainly a misprint, for we have noted that trout will return, 

 under like circumstances, to their feed, after a lapse of from three to 

 five minutes. 



