STRANGE FISH. 363 
A friend, once a resident of the Isle of Skye, and a well- 
known successful trout and salmon fisherman, had a beauti- 
ful little lake, about ten acres in extent, on his estate, not 
many miles from Toronto; which he had stocked with black 
bass. In a few years their numbers so much increased 
that, in an hour or tw6’s trolling of an evening, a dozen or 
more could easily be taken. This lake had neither outlet 
for inlet, but was supplied with water from springs in the 
bottom. 
I fear it will be almost deemed heresy to place this fish’ 
on a par with the trout; at least, some such idea I had 
when I first heard the two compared; but I am bold, and 
will go farther. I consider he is the superior of the two, 
for he is equally good as an article of food, and much 
stronger and untiring in his efforts to escape when hooked. 
A description of a draught of fishes from a favorite black- 
bass pond in Southern Indiana may not be without interest 
to the reader, as it will give some idea of the varieties to 
be found in Western waters. 
When returning from shooting pinnated grouse in the 
State of Illinois, I came upon a party of farmers who were 
netting a pond on the edge of the timber land. This sheet 
of water was about two-thirds of a mile long, with an aver- 
age breadth of one hundred and fifty yards. The bottom 
was composed of mud, except the southern end, where it 
was gravel. Only when very high floods occurred in the 
Wabash River was there an outlet or inlet to this piece of 
water; still, I knew it was well stocked with fish, for on a 
previous evening, as I stood on its margin as the sun went 
down, waiting for wild duck, I had seen the surface in por- 
tions broken into spray with the fishes’ numerous pastimes, 
or energetic pursuit of their prey. With curiosity I stop- 
ped to see the result of the first haul, and well was my pa- 
tience rewarded, for what food for study was in the result! 
