94 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



angler catches, and at the same time resists the efforts of 

 the angler to convert him into food. Henceforth the 

 angler is obliged to fish for two, and, in case of scarcity, 

 it is not the eel that will first suffer from hunger. 



Francis Francis. 



HUNTING-FISHES. 



1. Many fish hunt their prey singly, as the pike and 

 trout, and the way in which a large fish of these kinds will 

 course and run clown a smaller fish resembles nothing so 

 much as a greyhound coursing a hare. Now the unhappy 

 little fish turns from side to side in its efforts to escape, 

 while its pursuer bends and turns to every motion, follow- 

 ing close upon its track, and cutting him off exactly as the 

 greyhound does the hare. Now he rushes among a shoal 

 of his fellows, hoping to be lost sight of in the crowd and 

 confusion ; but the grim foe behind is not to ho baffled or 

 deceived, and, singling him out, and scattering the small 

 fry, which fly in all directions, ruffling the surface of the 

 water like a sudden squall of wind in their fright, follows 

 up his victim with unerring instinct. In an agony of ter- 

 ror, the poor little quarry springs again and again fran- 

 tically from the water, only to fall at last, exhausted, into 

 the gaping jaws of his ravenous foe, who, griping his body 

 crosswise, sails steadily away to his lair, there to devour his 

 prey at leisure. 



2. Some fish hunt their food, like dogs and wolves, in 

 packs. The bonito hunting the flying-fish is an example. 

 But the fiercest, most savage, and resolute of all the 

 leagued banditti of the deep is the pirai of South Amer- 

 ica. So savage are these little pirates that, when their size 

 and apparent capabilities are taken into consideration, their 

 feats of destructiveness are little short of the marvelous. 



