214 



AUDUBON 





The form in all the varieties inclines to the conical, 

 the head being disproportionately large, while the body 

 tapers away to the root of the tail. The eyes, which are 

 small, are placed far apart, and situated as it were on the 

 top of the forehead, but laterally. Their mouth is wide 

 and armed with numerous small and very sharp teeth, 

 while it is defended by single-sided spines, which, when 

 the fish is in the agonies of death, stand out at right 

 angles, and are so firmly fixed as sometimes to break be- 

 fore you can loosen them. The catfish has also feelers 

 of proportionate length, apparently intended to guide its 

 motions over the bottom, whilst its eyes are watching the 

 objects passing above. 



Trot-lines cannot be used with much success unless 

 during the middle stages of the water. When very low, 

 it is too clear, and the fish, although extremely voracious, 

 will rarely risk its life for a toad. When the waters are 

 rising rapidly, your trot-lines are likely to be carried 

 away by one of the numerous trees that float in the 

 stream. A " happy medium " is therefore best. 



When the waters are rising fast and have become 

 muddy, a single line is used for catching catfish. It is 

 fastened to the elastic branch of some willow several feet 

 above the water, and must be twenty or thirty feet in 

 length. The entrails of a Wild Turkey, or a piece of 

 fresh venison furnish good bait; and if, when you visit 

 your line the next morning after you have set it, the 

 water has not risen too much, the swinging of the willow 

 indicates that a fish has been hooked, and you have only 

 to haul the prize ashore. 



One evening I saw that the river was rising at a great 

 rate, although it was still within its banks. I knew that 

 the white perch were running, that is, ascending the 

 river from the sea, and, anxious to have a tasting of that 

 fine fish, I baited a line with a crayfish, and fastened it 

 to the bough of a tree. Next morning as I pulled in the 



