ANGLING. 31 



wonders if he had not better put on a sftot just above his 

 stretcher-fly. 



The Pretentious Angler, to use a favorite expression of the 

 lamented Dickey Hiker, once Eecorder of the city of New 

 York, is one " that prevails to a great extent in this com- 

 munity." This gentleman has many of the qualities attri- 

 buted by Fisher, of the "Angler's Souvenir," to Sir Humphrey 

 Davy. If he has attained the higher branches of the art, he 

 affects to despise all sport which he considers less scientific ; 

 if a salmon fisher, he calls trout "vermin;'' if he is a trout 

 fly-fisher, he professes contempt for bait fishing. We have 

 talked with true anglers who were even disposed to censure 

 the eminent Divine, who has so ably, and with such labor of 

 love, edited our American edition of Walton, for affectation, 

 in saying of the red worm, " our hands have long since been 

 washed of the dirty things." The servant should not be above 

 his master, and certainly " Iz. Wa.," whose disciple the Doctor 

 professed to be, considered it no indignity to use them, nor 

 was he disgusted with his " horn of gentles." But the Doctor 

 was certainly right in deprecating the use of ground bait in 

 reference to trout, when the angler can with a little faith and 

 less greed soon learn the use of the fly. 



The Shad-roe Fisherman. — The habitat of this genus (and 

 they are rarely found elsewhere) is Philadelphia. There are 

 many persons of the aforesaid city, who fish only when this 

 bait can be had, and an idea seems to possess them that fish 

 will bite at no other. This fraternity could have been found 

 some years back, singly or in pairs, or little coteries of three 

 or four, on any sun-shiny day from Easter to Whitsuntide, 

 heaving their heavy dipsies and horsehair snoods from the 

 ends of the piers, or from canal-boats laid up in ordinary — the 

 old floating bridge at Gray's Ferry was a favorite resort for 



