348 NOTES ON FISH AND PISHING. 



tributaries, but I have never caught one lower down than 

 Datchet. Higher up he is abundant in some districts, 

 particularly in the neighbourhood of Bisney, above 

 Oxford. He likes clear rivers with moderately rapid 

 stream, and he will not live in sluggish water, because it 

 is not sufficiently aerated; and hence he cannot be kept 

 in an ordinary room aquarium. He will die in a few 

 minutes if covered with water in a pail, but will live for 

 some time if he has only about half an inch of water, and 

 for several days in damp grass or nettles. It is a strange 

 fact that he is not to be found in any of the West of England 

 trout streams. I suppose the reason is that these are too 

 rapid for him. He lives on aquatic shell-fish, larvee of 

 water insects, spawn of fish (the rascal !) , and on small 

 fish too, when he can get them, and on animal and 

 vegetable matter generally. He is, in fact, like his 

 cousins, the lobsters and salt-water " craws," a kind of 

 scavenger of the deep. His habitat is in holes among the 

 roots of trees, in planking, in clay banks, and the openings 

 in stone walls ; and in districts where they are abundant, 

 boys and men too, regardless of an occasional pinch from 

 their strong nippers, or a bite from a water-rat; 

 search them out with their hands. This is the best 

 way of getting a basket of crays, but you must know 

 their whereabouts. There are other methods, how- 

 ever, of capturing them ; a line for instance, with pieces 

 of bait attached, will draw them from their holes, and 

 they may be scooped up with a small hand-net when 

 intent on a dainty morsel. They are taken too in some 

 districts in bundles of thorn-sticks with " offal " of some 

 kind or other enclosed in them and sunk to the bottom 

 with a heavy stone. Master Cray cannot resist the at- 



