358 Wild Life ina Southern County. 
long distance. So, too, with the gudgeon: I noticed 
in one brook I frequently passed that they never 
came up beyond one particular bend, though there 
was no apparent difference in the soil or in the stream 
itself. In the brook the jack do not seem to care 
much about them ; but in the lake above there are 
no gudgeon, and there a gudgeon is a fatal bait. 
Nothing is so certain to take; the gudgeon will 
tempt the pike there when an ordinary roach may be 
displayed before him without the slightest effect. 
A flood which brings down a large quantity of 
suspended mud and sand discolouring the water 
attracts the fish: they are looking for food. But too 
much mud compels them to shift their quarters. 
This is well known to those who net the stream. 
They stretch the net across the brook a few yards 
below a bridge or short culvert—places much haunted 
by fish. Then the bottom of the stream above the 
culvert is thoroughly stirred up with a pole till the 
water is thick with mud, and this, passing through 
the culvert (where the pole cannot be used and the 
fish would otherwise be safe), forces them to descend 
the stream and enterthe net. Probably they attempt 
to swim up stream first, but are deterred by the pole 
thrust under the water, and then go down. It is said 
that even eels, who like mud, will move if the volume 
of mud sent through is thick enough and continued 
sufficiently long. 
The fact that a little stirring of the bottom attracts 
