16 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



about a recuperation of the vital powers. The conditions 

 of existence in fish are not so very dissimilar from those 

 of land animals, and though their greater muscular 

 strength and greater ease in using it may, as I have said, 

 enable them to dispense with prolonged sleep, they pro- 

 bably could not do without it altogether. It may, how- 

 ever, be suggested that fish in very rapid streams, trout 

 especially, must expend a very great amount of strength in 

 order to " keep their place ; " and a big trout, we know, will 

 keep his place almost to an inch for a whole season if not 

 disturbed. But a counter-suggestion may be made to the 

 effect, that at night fish may seek the comparatively quiet 

 parts of rivers, " nooks and corners/'' for sleeping pur- 

 poses. Still, even in this case, the difficulty occurs as to 

 their being able to really sleep, as it would seem impos- 

 sible that voluntary action could be altogether suspended. 

 Query — Do they swim in their sleep, as somnambulists 

 walk in their sleep ? Of course the case is different in 

 perfectly still waters. But as to the fact whether they 

 sleep or not by night, or whether they take an occasional 

 nap or siesta by day — what is the evidence ? No one, as 

 the proverb suggests, ever " caught a weasel asleep," and 

 I do not know of any one who ever caught a fish asleep. A 

 friend of mine, a good angler and ardent naturalist, 

 adduces as evidence of fish sleeping the fact, which he 

 says he has established by experiment and observation — 

 viz. that for about six hours during the night in winter 

 and about two in summer, no sound of fish moving is to 

 be heard, and none are to be taken by any bait, with the 

 exception of eels, which are clearly nocturnal in their 

 habits. He says also that he has constantly taken chub 

 with a white moth all through the early part of a summer's 



