116 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



feed, is to be after them early in the morning, and again to- 

 wards night-fall, or evening. 



When live minnows, or any other small fish, are used for 

 bait, the angler sliould frequently change the water in the 

 kettle, and take the bait out with a very small net, similar 

 to those used in removing gold and silver fish, only of a 

 smaller mesh; or, if it is made of coarse gauze, it will do, 

 because, putting a hot hand in the kettle distresses and 

 alarms the bait, and frequently is the cause of several 

 of them dying, which sometimes is an irreparable loss for 

 the day, therefore it is necessary to provide against it. 

 When fishing for perch, (or where they are small) witli a 

 worm bait, wlien they bite, let them run about the length 

 of a yard or two, and then strike smartly: place the float 

 on the line so that the bait should swim or hang about a 

 foot from the bottom. The best baits for perch are, live 

 minnows, or shrimps, the red earth-worm, grubs found 

 among dung,and at the roots of cabbages, and young wasps. 



CHUB-fishing is rendered unpleasant from the circum- 

 stance of their inhabiting inland streams, in the midst of 

 rocks, stumps, and waters overgrown with bushes and 

 trees, and, although beautiful fish, are not very choice food, 

 and are seldom sought for, unless, indeed, in the absence 

 of most other fish; but the well known 



SUNfish,the inhabitant of every stream, and pond, is the 

 first fish to which youth apply their dexterity. This beauti- 

 ful little fish is not only sought after eagerly by the school- 

 boy, but the more experienced angler oft times, on the 

 margin of some lonely stream, enjoys a satisfaction peculiar 

 to this kind of fishing, where, on the sandy beds beneath 

 his feet, he carefully watches every motion of this little 

 fish, sometimes eager to seize the fatal bait, and then sus- 

 picious of the strange food, smells and darts back ever and 

 anon, as though conscious his fatal enemy was lurking near 

 to lui'c him to destruction. 



For Sun fishing, the float line is used altogether, with 

 very small hooks, say No. 8 or 9, baited with earth 

 worms, and suffered to hang near the bottom of the water. 

 They inhabit still waters altogether, and are to be found in 

 ditches, on the margin of most brooks, and shallow rivers, 

 with sandy bottoms, mill and other ponds, and the shady 

 covers of creeks. 



A beautiful writer describes angling thus: 



" As to its practical relations, it carries us into the most 

 wild and beautiful scenery of nature; amongst the mountain 

 lakes, and the clear and lovely streams, that gush from the 

 higher ranges of elevated hills, or make their way through 

 the cavities of calcareous strata. How delightful, in the 

 early spring, after the dull and tedious winter, when the 

 frosts disappear, and the sunshine warms the earth and 

 waters, to wander forth by some clear stream, — to see the 



leaf bursting from the purple bud, — to scent the odours of 

 the bank, perfumed by the violet, and enamelled, as it 

 were, with the primrose and the daisy; — to wander upon 

 the fresh turf, below the shade of trees; — and, on the sur- 

 face of the waters, to view the gaudy flies sparkling, like 

 animated gems, in the sunbeams, while the bright, beautiful 

 trout, is watching them from below; — to hear the twitter- 

 ing of the water birds, who, alarmed at your approach, hide 

 themselves beneath the flowers and leaves of the water- 

 lilies; — and, as the season advances, to find all these objects 

 changedfor others of the same kind, but better and brighter, 

 till the swallow and the trout contend, as it were, for the 

 gaudy May-fly; and till, in pursuing your amusement in 

 the calm and balmy evening, you are serenaded by the 

 cheerful thrush, performing the offices of maternal love, in 

 thickets ornamented with the rose and woodbine." 



" There is, indeed, a calmness and repose about angling 

 which belongs to no other sport, — hardly to any other ex- 

 ercise. To be alone and silent, amid the beauties of nature, 

 when she is just shaking off" the last emblems of the win- 

 ter's destruction, and springing into life, fresh, green, and 

 blooming, — that, that is the charm. The osier bed, as the 

 supple twigs register every fit of the breeze, display the 

 down on the under side of their leaves, and play like a sea 

 of molten silver, for the production of which no slave ever 

 toiled in the mine; and at that little nook where the stream, 

 after working itself into a ripple througli the thick matting 

 of co;?/e/-i'a? and water-lilies, glides silently under the hollow 

 bank, and lies dark, deep, and still as a mirror, is made ex- 

 quisitely touching by the pendent boughs of the weeping 

 willow that stands 'mournfully ever,' over the stilly 

 stream." 



REJOINDER TO I. T. S. 



Messrs. Editors: 



I read, with much attention, the reply of I. T. S. to the 

 remarks submitted by me in a former number on his mode 

 of Duck Shooting. The arguments used to illustrate his 

 views on the subject, however convincing to himself, I 

 must confess have not had sufficient weight with me to 

 changemy way of thinking. A practice ofman}' years at game 

 of every description, from the snipe to the duck, (notwith- 

 standing the belief of your correspondent to the contrary, 

 with respectto the latter bird) has fully satisfied me, that the 

 correct principle of shooting is not in advance of, but at 

 the bird, with a swing of the gun proportionate to its flight, 

 and that the mode adopted by him can never be depended 

 on with certainty, as it is impossible to lay down any rule 



