98 Book OF the Black Bass. 



metal, glass, stones, leather, etc., but when were his short- 

 comings attributed to short-sightedness? Our dogs will 

 often refuse good, clean food and hunt up an old dry bone, 

 a stone, an old shoe, or a stick, and will gnaw them with 

 delight, and even swallow them with evident gratification. 

 Birds will peck at and swallow bright beads, colored 

 threads, etc., and kittens will seize, claw and bite almost 

 any moving small object; but these vagaries are attributed 

 to the idiosyncracies of the animals mentioned, while in 

 fishes they are ascribed to defective sight. 



But what are a fish's eyes for? According to our pres- 

 ent knowledge they are to enable him to become " a snap- 

 per-up of unconsidered trifles " with hooks attached to 

 them! 



Now, so far as the artificial fly is concerned, when it is 

 fcast lightly upon a fretted surface, I think it is generally 

 taken by a fish under the impression that it is a natural 

 insect; but with regard to trolls of all kinds, as spoons, 

 squids, spinners, propellers, etc., and very often with re- 

 gard to the artificial fly, I am of the opinion that they are 

 taken through a spirit of mere bravado, curiosity or wan- 

 tonness, and not with the idea that they are living objects 

 of prey. They are seized by the fish because they are 

 bright, attractive and in motion; not because they are 

 hungry, but because they are in a biting mood, for we 

 often find, nay, most always find, that fish so taken are 

 already gorged with food. 



At a meeting of the Manchester Anglers' Association, in 

 England, Dr. A. Hodgkinson gave an address on the 

 " Optics of Angling," which is thus noticed by the " Lon- 

 don Pishing Gazette :" 



" In considering the subject of angling optics, we are met, as 

 Dr. Hodgkinson pointed out, by the difficulty that we do not 



