46 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



conceived the idea. Mr. Basil Field, whose admirable bait-can 

 I shall presently have to refer to, has frankly disclaimed the 

 authorship. He says he first saw the principle applied to the 

 minnow compartment of a punt- well some forty years ago, and 

 shortly afterwards to an ordinary bait-can— a lady's basket doing 

 duty in this instance for the perforated chamber. In another 

 instance an inner lining was made of net extended on a wire 

 frame — a cheap and useful makeshift which may be recom- 

 mended to those who do not wish to go to the expense of a 

 new can. Mr. Field adds that he himself constructed an in- 

 ternal can out of a biscuit- tin at least twenty-eight years ago, 

 and remembers the fact by having cut his hand badly with the 

 edge of the tin whilst punching the holes. 



The drawback to both my double-lidded can and the other 

 improved can described is that they have no apparatus for 

 aerating the water, by which means alone the baits can be kept 

 alive during a whole day. The only attempt I ever saw made 

 to meet the difficulty was an indiarubber ' squash-ball,' fitted 

 with a valve and a piece of tubing that could be carried in the 

 pocket and introduced into the bait-can from time to time. 

 At best, however, this was a very imperfect and inconvenient 

 appliance, and in practice seldom resorted to. We are indebted 

 to Mr. Basil Field for a bait-can in which the aerating apparatus 

 — being contained in the handle of the bait-can itself — can be 

 used with the utmost facility and effectiveness while the can is 

 being carried. The keeping of the baits alive all day is of even 

 greater importance to the troller than the inconvenience of 

 having to carry them backwards and forwards ; and taking 

 it altogether Mr. Field's invention is indisputably at present 

 the best description of can obtainable. Whether or not it 

 might be improved by, in some way or another, adding a double 

 lid and a shoulder strap, is a question ; but, on the whole, I 

 should be prepared to face the chance both of dripping and 

 delay in exchange for the pre-eminent advantage of being able 

 to keep my baits alive from morning till night 



The engravings represent the two parts of the can 



