PEEFACE TO PART I. 



1 he author of the following pages having been situated tor a 

 number of years where the necessity of some general inform- 

 ation on the subject of the art of Angling was daily seen, at 

 first conceived the idea of publishing an American edition 

 of Walton's Complete Angler ; but on a later and more care- 

 ful perusal of its pages, and that of other writers, it was found 

 that but little, comparatively, real practical knowledge could be 

 given of the large variety of the fishes of our own country ; he 

 therefore concluded to publish, in a small form, the opinions 

 and practice of the various English authors, with remarks, 

 thereon, and such information as could be gathered from 

 American books and American sportsmen. Of the former, 

 very few could be obtained : magazines and philosophical 

 works were searched with but little success ; the sportsmen 

 were consulted, and much valuable information obtained; 

 still there was a general lack of proper knowledge of the 

 nature and habits of the great body of our northern and west- 



