F E E D I N G-H ABITfcOF THE BLACK BASS 



runs, and where the small-mouthed black bass are 

 numerous and take the feathers, soberly dressed, 

 with frequency and avidity. 



Now, there is a peculiar trait of the small- 

 mouthed black bass of that section which I have 

 never seen mentioned in the books or journals de- 

 voted to the subject of angling. When the rail- 

 road traversing that region took up and vigorously 

 carried to success the idea of stocking the streams 

 of Sullivan County with several species of trout, 

 great fears were felt by anglers that the black 

 bass of the Delaware would eventually find their 

 way into the Beaverkill and Willowemoc and 

 destroy the trout. These fears, after ten years 

 of observation, have proved groundless. The cold 

 waters of the above-named rivers, uniting just 

 below Rockland, seem to be a barrier to the up- 

 ward progress of the bass, although there are 

 many large and sufficiently deep pools in the 

 lower Beaverkill in which they could live and 

 thrive. 



Leaping of the Large-Mouths 



Much has been said and written, pro and con., as 

 to the large-mouthed black bass leaping into the air 

 when hooked. They certainly do not do so, even 

 semi-occasionally, in my experience, on waters east 

 of the Alleghanies; but they frequently come into 



