264 AMERICAN FISHES. 



meadows, and the banks are entirely destitute of covert, so that very 

 careful and delicate fishing is necessary in order to fill a basket. 

 Even with ground bait it is desirable to keep completely out of sight, 

 walking as far from the bank as possible, and to avoid jarring the 

 water, so wary and shy are the larger fish. It is also advisable to fish 

 down wind. Trolling is very successful in this water, the same pre- 

 cautions being taken, and the bait-fish being dropped as lightly on the 

 surface, as if it were a fly, so as to create neither splash nor sound. 

 The pond above is likewise deservedly celebrated, the fish averaging 

 at least a pound in weight, and equal in all respects to any pond 

 Trout in this or any other region. The fly-fishing here in season is 

 probably the best on Long Island, although of late, here, as every- 

 where else, Trout are becoming comparatively few in number ; so that 

 it has been found necessary to impose a limit on sportsmen. 



" Not many years ago, a celebrated English shot and angler, who 



has since left this country, and who, I believe, was among the first, if 



not the very first, to use the fly on Long Island waters, took between 



forty and fifty good fish in this pond before dinner, and in the after- 



. noon basketed above a dozen of yet larger size in the stream below. 



" This feat, the like of which will not, I fear, be soon heard of 

 again, was performed with a fly, the body of which was composed of 

 hare's-ear fur, and the hackle of a woodcock's wings — a very killing 

 fly, be it observed, for all waters, especially early in the season. 



" On the same stream with Carman's pond, and at but a short dis- 

 tance above it, is another called Middle Island Pond, with a saw and 

 flour-mill at the outlet, which contains a great number of fish, of very 

 large and very uniform size, running from one and a half to two 

 pounds weight. It is remarkable, however, that the Trout in the 

 lower pond being esteemed the best, those in the upper should be the 

 worst of any taken on the south side of the island. Such, notwith- 

 standing, is the case ; they are long, shallow, ill-fed fish, dingy- 

 colored, and woody-flavored. They are not, however, black -mouthed, 

 as are the fish of a pond which I shall have occasion to mention here- 

 after. 



" I remember that a fact of the same sort is recorded of two lakes, 

 I think in the north of Ireland, connected by a short stream running 

 through a bog meadow. In the upper of these lakes the fish, as here, 



