384 THE ANGLEK-NATURALIST. 



groping all around under the ice as far as he can reach, in 

 search of such Eels as may have come to the aperture for 

 air. That he uses his fore paws in this manner is distinctly 

 proved by his dirty footprints afterwards in the snow. It 

 is also an admitted fact in the natural history of the Eel, 

 that it cannot exist without air. The Polecats, then, 

 aware, either from instinct or habit, of this propensity of 

 the Eels to assemble round any aperture in the ice for 

 the benefit of the air, invariably search for them at every 

 opening they meet with ; and in tracing their footprints in 

 the snow, as above described, it will frequently be dis- 

 covered that Eels have been dragged from under the ice 

 by these wily fishermen, and either devoured on the sur- 

 face or carried to their dens to satisfy their hunger at 

 some future opportunity. I may here also add that I have 

 known a Polecat killed by a fisherman's dog on our exten- 

 sive sands, nearly two miles below high-water mark ; and as 

 herrings were taken at that very time in great numbers in 

 nets suspended on stakes, it is very probable that this 

 Polecat had been attracted to this distance by the strong 

 smell of these fish." 



It is a fact generally admitted by naturalists that cold 

 is extremely inimical to Eels. There are no Eels in the 

 Arctic regions, none in the rivers of Siberia, in the Volga, 

 or even in many of the tributaries of the Danube, whilst 

 the southern rivers of Europe produce four different species. 

 It has been before observed that fishes in general, and Eels 

 in particular, are able to detect very trifling variations in 



