52 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



replied the Doctor. " In rocky streams like this, 

 one has a good gauge for measuring the leap. I 

 never saw a bass leap as high as yonder boulder, 

 which is about three feet above the water; and as 

 you have taken several fish in its eddy, you might 

 have proved it by your own observation, as I did 

 myself." 



" I distinctly remember, now," affirmed Shiner, 

 " that my last catch the big fellow leaped 

 several times very near that same rock, and he 

 did not go half as high." 



The two friends then repaired to a cool spring 

 beneath a spreading beech, to enjoy a luncheon 

 and a quiet pipe, well satisfied with their morn- 

 ing's sport, and to continue the argumentum 

 ad hominem anent fly and bait, with the usual 

 result that 



" A man convinced against his will, 



Is of the same opinion still." 

 t 



THE ROCK-BASS 



(Ambloplites rupestris) 



In the same family with the black-bass are a 

 number of other sunfishes that will next be con- 

 sidered, merely as a matter of sequence, and not 

 on account of their importance as game-fishes. 



