152 SIIEEPSHEAD FISHING. 



fisli was dismen.bered and divided, like another 

 Poland ! 



It was devoured witli a gusto so absorbing, as to 

 overwhelm all thoughts of science ; and not even 

 the skeleton of this mammoth perch remains, to be 

 transferred to the shelves of a museum, in token 

 of the truth of my story ! 



I might add to these sketches and descriptions, 

 some account of the fishing in our fresh water lakes 

 and rivers, but the readers of "Walton and Cotton 

 can, on this head, need no instruction from me. To 

 say the truth, I am far less skilled in such fishing, 

 having never resorted to it, except when the more 

 exciting sport of sea-fishing could not be had 

 neither should I be insensible to the ridicule of 

 beginning with a devil-fish, and ending with a 

 minnow ! 



NOTE. If a still better reason were wanted, why 

 I should refrain from entering on this field, I should 

 find it in the fact, that I should, in so doing, be 

 forestalling public attention be poaching, as it 

 were, in a neighbor's preserve ! for the fish of our 

 southern* country, whether in lake, river, or sea, are 

 already in the hands of Professor Holbrook; in 

 whose elaborate work, shortly to be published, the 

 man of science will find them classified and ar- 



