380 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



moist filtering current, are particularly favourite haunts of 

 the Eel ; and in these situations they are frequently taken 

 in considerable quantities with eel-spears. 



The following mode of Eel -fishing commends itself at 

 least by its novelty : 



" In the hard frosts of last year I saw/' says a writer in 

 the f Zoologist/ " a method of eel-catching practised which 

 was new to me, and would go far to prove that the hearing 

 of fish is nearly deadened by cold. The eels had come, as 

 they do in such cases, to the surface of the water, imme- 

 diately below the ice, and, where it was clear, were easily 

 seen. About two or three inches off them, a hole was cut 

 through the ice large enough to admit a pair of nippers, 

 with which the eel was summarily pulled out. Where there 

 were reeds projecting through the ice, the concussion carried 

 downwards by any blow on them was sufficient to startle 

 the fish, but where the ice was uninterrupted they usually 

 lay quite still till extracted. I tried the plan myself after 

 watching it for some time, but did not calculate on the 

 difference of weight between myself and the boys, so that 

 though the hole I broke was large enough in all conscience, 

 it was in a fashion much more likely to give me as food for 

 the fishes than vice versa ; in fact, on the first blow I went 

 straight through up to my waist. I saw only Eels taken, 

 but was informed that Perch and Tench had also been 

 captured in this singular way." * 



Perhaps equally curious is a method practised in some 

 * Zoologist, 1846, p. 1216. 



