Fishing in North Carolina. 41 



Fish have many enemies besides man and 

 their own species, and while there is no suicidal 

 mania, yet there is an enormously developed 

 race issue which is impelled by the instinct of 

 the stomach and guided by the power of mouth, 

 fin, and tail. 



The turtle is a very bad neighbor. His 

 mouth is big, his eyes are open and his stomach 

 is capacious. A fish loves to be rubbed better 

 than a fat man in a Turkish bath, probably be- 

 cause he wishes to get rid of some of the yellow 

 fever germs left on him by a mosquito or a Ger- 

 man scientist. Scratching tickles him to a stand- 

 still. The ttirtle locates him under a log and 

 wants to share his society. He takes cognizance 

 of the latitude and longitude, shuts his eyes, 

 moves and allows himself to feel like a log along- 

 side of the fish, until his muzzle gets into posi- 

 tion; when one snap fixes the destiny of the 

 fish until it thunders. 



The terrapin only attacks the sick or the 

 netted fish — his head being no battleship. 



The otter and the mink are both gross feeders 

 and great fishers. Their eyes are built for 



