190 



THE BLACK BASS E. 



basse and Oswego basse are of different species. Hear 

 him: 



"The Oswego and Black Basse. — The Oswego basse and 

 black basse bear so strong a resemblance to each other that 

 not one fisherman in ten knows them as distinct entities. In 

 form, color, weight, and habits, the two are almost perfectly 

 identical; and yet their differences, though minute, are strik- 

 ing and essential. An Oswego basse, when placed by a 

 black basse of the same size, is readily distinguished by his 

 more forked tail, his greater thickness of shoulder, his coarser 

 scales, and, above all, by his mouth, which, when open, is 

 nearly twice as large as that of the black basse. In Lake 

 Ontario the Oswego basse is abundant, and the black basse 

 comparatively rare. In Lake Erie, the black basse greatly 

 predominates, and it may be doubted whether the Oswego- 

 nian — like certain citizens of the Ontario shore — is not an 

 interloper in our waters, who has found his way to us from 

 below through some canal. However this may Tie, he is 

 certainly right welcome ! 



" The black basse is our chief object of pursuit — his cap- 

 ture is our dearest triumph — his captive form our proudest 

 trophy. When word first comes, in June, that the black 

 basse bites in our river, what a stir there is among our anglers ! 

 — what questioning as to the when, and the where, and by 

 whom, and with what bait, and the number, and size ! — what 

 an anxious inquiry after big minnows ! — what a raking and 

 scraping of pond-holes for soft lobsters ! — what a watching 

 of the skies ! — and, if there be no wind, or a zephyr from the 

 south or west, what bright and hopeful faces ! — but if the 

 storm rage, or an easterly wind, however gentle, fan our 

 sleeping bay, what rueful countenances ! — what half-sup- 

 pressed repinings ! — what a woful, spiritless attempting to be 

 busy about our ordinary avocations ! And why this commo- 

 ■jon? Because this is the very prince of our game-fishes. 



