352 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



visit it, while the fish-hawk loves it well ; the stately 

 herons wade along its muddy shores, and the mink, musk- 

 rat, and otter still make it their home. 



Still standing in my doorway, and looking to the left, 

 I can trace, by the dense growth of forest-trees, a nobler 

 stream, which comes from the distant " pines," and, after 

 a tortuous course of many miles, is also finally lost in the 

 greater volume of the seaward-flowing Delaware. Here 

 we have a total change in almost every feature of the 

 landscape. The swelling tide reverses the current of the 

 stream for several miles, checking the growth of lilies, 

 dock, and pond-weed. Being without obstruction on one 

 side, the creek overflows the level reach of marshy mead- 

 ow that scarcely defines the channel. On the opposite 

 bank is the steep, winding terrace that here turns to meet 

 the Delaware. 



In these three streams the conditions are so different 

 that we might well expect to find many fishes of many 

 kinds. We are not, however, confined to these three 

 streams alone, as there are scores of connecting ditches, 

 and many spring-fed ponds, wherein the golden sunfish 

 and the silvery minnow love to linger. 



In all these places, whether river, creek, pond, or 

 ditch, there are many fishes, both great and small. Let 

 us, then, go fishing fishing, not for the purpose of catch- 

 ing them, but of studying them. Many difficulties will 

 beset us in this pursuit ; but we are not without means of 

 overcoming them, an unlimited amount of patience being 

 the prime necessity. 



The principal drawback to the study of the habits of 

 fishes is, of course, our inability, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, to watch them in any large body of water, or in 

 streams that have a rapid current. The most that we can 

 do is to see them swim past and note the simple fact of 





