BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 21 



they invariably wished to see the fish feed. I 

 usually netted out a few stone loach in the 

 shallow water and threw them in above the trout. 



As the loach swam down it was very con- 

 spicuous ? but as soon as it reached the bottom 

 it melted from sight. 



In a similar manner the trout could see the 

 loach in the water, and would make a rush at it 

 from behind a stone or from the other side of 

 the pond ; if, however, the little fish got to the 

 bottom before the trout seized him it was safe. 



The trout would swim round and turn down 

 his eyeballs, but, so long as the loach kept still, 

 the same colour scheme and markings which 

 concealed it from the human eye concealed it 

 from the trout. 



Again, for some months I watched pike. 

 One fish, some three pounds in weight, used to 

 lie on the bottom, within six inches of the glass 

 of the chamber. Four feet farther into the pond 

 a patch of rushes had been planted, and roach, 

 rudd and dace — the natural food of the pike- — 

 moved about in the water. I have seen two or 

 three dace slowly move up in front of the rushes 

 and then hang in the water ; when a particle of 

 food was carried down in the stream a daee 



