114 



ANGLING. 



He is rather nice in his baits, which must be kept 

 clean and sweet, and untainted by musty moss. 

 " One caution," says Mr. Daniel, " in angling for 

 barbel, will bear repetition: never throw in the 

 bait farther than enabled by a gentle cast of the 

 rod, letting the plumb fall into the water with the 

 least possible noise. It is an error to think that 

 large fish are in the middle of the river ; experience 

 teaches the fallacy of this opinion ; they naturally 

 seek their food near the banks, and agitating the 

 waters by an injudicious management of the plumb 

 will certainly drive them away." 



THE GUDGEON.' 



This small but highly esteemed fish is angled 

 for with a little red worm, near the ground. It 

 bites so freely that many dozens may be taken in 

 a few hours, and affords pleasant occupation to 

 young anglers, and even to those of more advanced 

 years who value sweetness of taste as much as 

 largeness of dimension. It delights in the scours 

 or rippling shallows of otherwise slow running 

 streams. Its habits are gregarious, and the opera- 

 tion of spawning takes place in spring, and occupies 

 a considerable period, being as it were postponed 

 and renewed from time to time. The fry measures 

 about an inch long by the beginning of August, 

 and the fish itself seldom exceeds eight inches. 

 The gudgeon, like many other good things, seems 

 confined to the southern quarter of the island, at 

 least we know of none in Scotland. 



* Gobio flumatiliS) Cuv. Cyprinus gobio, Linn. 



