Fishes. 529 



would be done ample justice to. A slice from the breast of a coot or a 

 collop from its thigh was highly approved; and in salt water, the large 

 prickly sand- worm as well as fresh fish of various kinds, are duly appre- 

 ciated, but nevertheless are unable to prevent the use of that plebeian 

 food, the salted herring. And yet in one piece of water which I used 

 to frequent as a fisherman, and in which there were eels without end, 

 I never could induce them to taste the Prussian carp. How to ac- 

 count for it I do not know. There were many large carp and tench 

 in the same water, but no small ones ; and the absence of fry I attri- 

 buted to the voracity of the eels, for I had no doubt at all that spawn 

 was deposited and impregnated. Hence it could hardly be said that 

 the eels did not eat the small fish I offered them, because they were 

 unaccustomed to a fish diet. 



In the broad fleets on the marshes, during hot weather in summer, 

 they seem to bask near the surface of the water, resting, meanwhile, 

 on the support of the weeds : and on being disturbed by a boat, or if 

 lying near the side, by a passer by, they quickly descend, making a 

 kind of disturbance in the water which exactly resembles that caused 

 by the emergence and instantaneous re-immersion of the dab-chick. 

 Sometimes on these occasions the eel, in its attempt to descend, 

 throws itself completely out of the water. On a calm summer's even- 

 ing I have seen them in some waters throwing themselves out much 

 after the manner of the porpoise when leaping : performing, that is, 

 a kind of summersault. I have witnessed this but rarely, and ne- 

 ver in streams. In the river Whitadder there are great numbers 

 of eels ; and when the water is unruffled, as well as clear, they 

 may be seen in hundreds in the still, shallow parts of the river; 

 while in the streams also, every stone almost which can boast a 

 diameter of some six or seven inches, has one or more snugly en- 

 sconced under it. The cause, or one cause at least, of their abun- 

 dance, is due to the prejudice on the part of the people against them 

 above alluded to, so that they are not sought after by the fisherman as 

 in the south of England : and though great quantities of them must 

 be carried down by the impetuosity of the stream in time of floods, no 

 other thing appears to thin their numbers. Owing to their abundance 

 there was never any lack, when the water was sufficiently "fine" and 

 still, of opportunities of watching them. I had frequently seen them 

 moving slowly about and inserting their noses under every stone they 

 came to ; sometimes, if the nature of the ground or shape of the stone 

 permitted it, insinuating the greater part of their bodies and remain- 

 ing thus half hidden some short space of time : what they were doing 



