160 GUN, EOD, AND SADDLE, 



STRANGE FISHES. 



When returnins; from shootino; i)innntGd o-rouse 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 average breadth of one hundred and 

 fifty yards. The bottom was composed of mud, ex- 

 cept the southern end, where it was gravel. Only when 

 vei-y high floods occurred in the Wabash River, was 

 there outlet or inlet to this piece of water; still, I 

 knew it was well stocked with iish, 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 iu por- 

 tions broken into spray with the fishes' numerous pas- 

 times, or energetic pursuit of their prey. With curios- 

 ity I stopped to see the result of the first haul, and well 

 was my patience rewarded, for what food for study 

 was in the results ! First and foremost, from the size 

 and peculiarity of formation, I will mention what the 

 fisherman designated a " spoonbill catfish " — a name 



