fVAYS OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. 153 



in their fright, would venture too near the current 

 that ran over the splash - boards, and, after vain 

 efforts to recover themselves, would wriggle down, 

 tail first, into the other side of the mill-pool, to be 

 instantly snapped up by the pike there. Roach 

 and small trout the monsters could have in abun- 

 dance ; that was their common food, easy enough 

 to get whenever they required it ; it would have 

 been useless to try to capture them with either of 

 these : but gudgeon were a luxury which they tried 

 their hardest to procure when it was possible. 



Now gudgeon are, at certain times — troubled by 

 some law known to themselves — compelled, like 

 eels, to make down-stream. Let any one curious 

 in such matters, who knows their haunts, watch 

 them gather for days — if there is any fall in the 

 water — before they will finally allow themselves to 

 be carried over, tail first, into the current below. 

 They do not all go over at the same time — a few, 

 the finest fish, slip over first, in small companies, as 

 if to show the main body the best method of doing 

 it. At such a time those observant rustic anglers 

 would gather on that bridge. Their rods were of 

 the most primitive description, simply a hazel stick 



