STRANGE FISH. 363 



A friend, once a resident of the Isle of Skye, and a well- 

 known successful trout and salmon fisherman, had a beauti- 

 ful little lake, about ten acres in extent, on his estate, not 

 many miles from Toronto, which he had stocked with black 

 bass. In a few years their numbers so much increased 

 that, in an hour or two's trolling of an evening, a dozen or 

 more could easily be taken. This lake had neither outlet 

 nor inlet, but was supplied with water from springs in the 

 bottom. 



I fear it will be almost deemed heresy to place this fish 

 on a par with the trout ; at least, some such idea I had 

 when I first heard the two compared ; but I am bold, and 

 will go farther. I consider he is the superior of the two, 

 for he is equally good as an article of food, and much 

 stronger and untiring in his efforts to escape when hooked. 



A description of a draught of fishes from a favorite black- 

 bass pond in Southern Indiana may not be without interest 

 to the reader, as it will give some idea of the varieties to 

 be found in Western waters. 



When returning from shooting pinnated grouse in the 

 State of Illinois, I came upon a party of farmers who were 

 netting a pond on the edge of the timber land. This sheet 

 of water was about two-thirds of a mile long, with an aver- 

 age breadth of one hundred and fifty yards. The bottom 

 was composed of mud, except the southern end, where it 

 was gravel. Only when very high floods occurred in the 

 Wabash River was there an outlet or inlet to this piece of 

 water ; still, I knew it was well stocked with fish, for on a 

 previous evening, as I stood on its margin as the sun went 

 down, waiting for wild duck, I had seen the surface in por- 

 tions broken into spray with the fishes' numerous pastimes, 

 or energetic pursuit of their prey. With curiosity I stop- 

 ped to see the result of the first haul, and well was my pa- 

 tience rewarded, for what food for study was in the result ! 



