SHOOTING AND FISHING. 129 



delightfully revel in the excitement caused by the 

 full cry ; but they are utterly ignorant of condition, 

 shape, make, and method, and know no more of the 

 real worth of a hound than I do of the Polar Region. 



The next morning having been down some time 

 before the breakfast hour, 1 appropriated to myself a 

 minnow bottle, and having tied a rag over the top and 

 pricked holes in it, and baited it with crumbs of 

 bread, I took it to a little ditch that formed one side 

 of the kitchen gardens, and set it for minnows, stand- 

 ing by to watch them go in. I cannot help thinking 

 that French minnows are as bold as English tritons ; 

 for, nothing daunted at the splash of the bottle or its 

 bubbles when introduced under water, or at my pre- 

 sence, the instant the bottle was at the bottom on its 

 side, they flocked about it, ran their noses against its 

 transparent sides, and soon found out the entrance, 

 and when first in and unaware of confinement set to 

 work right merrily at the crumbs of bread. Having 

 watched my bottle get very full of imps, I fished it 

 up, gave the finny tribe their liberty, and set it again, 

 and when the bell rang ran in to breakfast. 



We did all sorts of tilings this day. I inspected the 

 hounds, prescribed for the sick ones, and again prayed 

 for early feeding. After that, I fished ; and after that 

 got my gun and shot partridge (not the red leg) and 



K 



