AMERICAN SUN PERCH. 49 



rods in the air to unrol their Hnes, on one of which, you observe, a cork 

 is fastened, while on another is a bit of light wood, and on the third a 

 grain or two of large shot, to draw it at once to a certain depth. Now 

 their hooks are baited, and all are ready. Each casts his line as he thinks 

 best, after he has probed the depth of the stream with his rod, to enable 

 him to place his buoy at the proper point. Bob, bob, goes the cork ; 

 down it moves ; the bit of wood disappears ; the leaded line tightens ; in 

 a moment up swing the sunnies, which, getting unhooked, are projected 

 far among the grass, where they struggle in vain, until death ends their 

 efforts. The hooks are now baited anew, and dropped into the water. 

 The fish is abundant, the weather propitious and delightful, for it is now 

 October, and so greedy have the sunnies become of grasshoppers and grubs, 

 that dozens at once dash at the same bait. The lads, believe me, have 

 now rare sport, and in an hour scarcely a fish remains in the hole. The 

 happy children have caught perhaps some hundreds of delicious " pan- 

 fish," to feed their parents, and delight their little sisters. Surely their 

 pleasure is fully as great as that experienced by the scientific angler. 



I have known instances when the waters of a dam having been let out, 

 for some reason better known to the miller than to myself, all the sun-fish 

 have betaken themselves to one or two deep holes, as if to avoid being 

 carried away from their favourite abode. There I have seen them in 

 such multitudes that one could catch as many as he pleased with a pin- 

 hook, fastened to any sort of line, and baited with any sort of worm or 

 insect, or even with a piece of a newly caught fish. Yet, and I am not 

 able to account for it, all of a sudden, without apparent cause, they would 

 cease to take, and no allurement whatever coidd entice them or the other 

 fishes in the pool to seize the hook. 



During high freshets, this species of perch seldom bites at any thing, 

 but you may procure them with a cast-net or a seine, provided you are 

 well acquainted with the localities. On the contrary, when the waters 

 are low and clear, every secluded hole, every eddy under the lee of a 

 rock, every place sheltered by a raft of timber, will afford you amuse- 

 ment. In some parts of the Southern States, the Negroes procure these 

 fishes late in the autumn in shallow ponds or bayous, by wading through 

 the water with caution, and placing at every few steps a wicker appara- 

 tus, not unlike a small barrel, open at botli ends. The moment the fishes 

 find themselves confined within the lower part of this, which is pressed to 

 the bottom of the stream, their skippings announce their capture, and the 

 fisher secures his booty. 



VOL, III. D 



