10 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



working hard to get it* ; whilst only two or three semi-amateurs- 

 more seriously " bab " for sale. As I have elsewhere stated, the 

 old Breydoners of my younger days are dead. " Short'un "" 

 Page, " the last of the Mohicans," at the moment of writing 

 aged and decrepit, is spending the late winter of his days in the 

 infirmary. 



A few observations on Eels made during my summer holidays 

 may be briefly summarised : When feeding, Eels refuse but little' 

 that comes in their way. One vomited in my eel-trunk a piece 

 of raw beef; another, measuring 15 in. and showing a distended 

 abdomen, on opening it it was found to contain a 4-in. length of 

 bacon-rind, making the stomach in shape like a tennis-racket. 

 An aged Breydoner told me that when babbing near the Haven, 

 bridge he broke his pipe and threw in the pieces. He noticed 

 soon after one Eel with a lumpy appearance, and curiosity 

 tempted him to skin it. From the stomach he took out a part of 

 the pipe-shank. To skin an Eel with least trouble the tail must 

 be struck against a hard substance. No matter how lively an 

 Eel may be, the moment the vertebrae near the head are severed 

 it hangs limp as a dead worm. Eels die quickly in crowded eel- 

 boxes, undoubtedly of asphyxiation, and eel-catchers are always- 

 eager to send off their fish as soon as possible after capture ; yet 

 they will take little harm from sewage water, although the slightest- 

 admixture of tar, petrol, or pungent oils sends them away in a 

 great hurry. I was catching Eels on one occasion when a piece- 

 of greasy cotton-waste touched the " bab " ; not another bite did 

 I get. Stale worms, unless they are very hungry, will not tempt 

 them, so that fresh worms are necessary nightly. A " bab " 

 is a 2- or 3-yd. chain of threaded worms, wound in coilis 

 around the hand, then tied and weighted with a conical-shaped 

 leaden sinker. Eels are fickle : one evening they will bite freely 

 on one side of the river, on the next they are found on the 

 opposite only. It is a good plan to try several places until they 

 are found. On the river they bite better on the early flood than 

 at any other time of it. Eels will "mud " in the marsh ditches 



-■■-' Eel-picking is now confined to the Main Channel, which is over 20 ft. 

 deep, or in summer, with the babbing, chiefly confined to the shallower 

 " drains " or creeks that drain the ebbing waters from the now much-raised 

 and hardened acres of mud-flats. 



