CONDITIONS WHICH GOVERN THE BITING OF FISH. 163 



the feed at the same time ; if we did so we would have no 

 cause to complain of their not rising or biting. In the 

 struggle for existence among animals, including fishes, it is 

 the majority that obtains enough to satisfy its wants, and 

 the minority only that does not. Then it is from the minor- 

 ity that we must look for the few that are likely to see and 

 take our lure. 



Predacious fishes feed almost entirely at night, only the 

 hungry ones, perhaps, that do so during the day ; and though 

 we often take fish with their stomachs full, they are evi- 

 dently still on the feed, for such food is usually in a fresh 

 or undigested condition, showing that it has been recently 

 swallowed. 



Predacious fishes are more active during the night, and, 

 I believe, rest or sleep during the day, while the smaller 

 fishes, as minnows, etc., are more active during daylight; 

 for it is not unlikely that they seclude themselves, or keep 

 in very shallow water, during the night, to prevent their be- 

 ing swallowed by their larger and piscivorous congeners. 



As predacious fishes then feed mostly by night, we would 

 naturally expect to find them at that time where their food 

 was most plentiful ; and this is really the case, for I have ob- 

 served that they were always near the shores or on the shal- 

 lows at night, in water so shallow, in fact, that their dorsal 

 fins were often out of the water. Any one who will take 

 the trouble to proceed cautiously along the shores at night, 

 with a lantern, can verify this statement. 



It is well known that the last few hours of daylight are 

 the best for fly-fishing, which I account for by the fact that 

 the fish are then approaching the shallows and shores in 

 their nightly search for food ; and as they only rise to the 



