THE COMMON EEL. 11% 



less space, and press close to the shore, struggling 

 very hard till they passed it. 



" This shoal continued to move on night and day, 

 without interruption, for several weeks. Their 

 progress might be at the rate of about a mile an 

 hour. It was easy to catch the animals, though 

 they were very active and nimble. They were eels 

 perfectly formed in every respect, but not exceed- 

 ing two inches in length. I conceive that the shoal 

 did not contain, on an average, less than from 

 twelve to twenty in breadth - s so that the number 

 that passed on the whole, during their progress, 

 must have been very great. Whence they came, 

 or whither they went, I know not. The place I 

 remarked them at was six miles from the sea, and 

 I am told that the same phenomenon takes place 

 every year about the same season *." 



The usual haunts of eels are in mud, amonjr 

 weeds, under roots or stumps of trees, or in holes 

 in the banks or the bottom of rivers. They are par- 

 tial to still water, and particularly to such as is 

 muddy at the bottom. Here they often grow to 

 an enormous size, sometimes weighing fifteen or 

 sixteen pounds. — One that was caught near Peter- 

 borough, in the year 1667, measured a yard and 

 three quarters in length f. 



When kept in ponds they have been known to 

 destroy young ducks. Sir John Hawkins, from a 

 canal near his house at Twickenham, missed many 

 of the young ducks ; and, on draining, in order to 



* Anderson's Bee, xi. p. 10. + Walton, 185. 



