Jack leaping a Bay 289 



the shallower water. Sometimes a solitary fish will shift 

 quarters like this, and must go by the jack lying in ambush. 



At the top of the tongue of land (which is planted with 

 withy) another brook joins the first : this brook is very 

 deep, and all but stagnant. In the quiet back-water here 

 — close to and yet out of the swifter stream — is another 

 haunt of the jack. 



If alarmed, he does not swim straight up or down the 

 centre of the current, but darts half-a-dozen yards in a 

 slanting direction across the stream and hides under 

 another floating weed. Then, if started afresh, he makes 

 another zig-zag, and conceals himself once more. At first 

 he remains till you could touch him, if you tried, with a 

 long stick; but at every remove he grows more suspicious, 

 till at last as you approach he is off immediately. 



Jacks lie a great deal in the still deep ponds that open 

 off the brook or are connected with it by a deep ditch ; 

 they have been known to find their way up to a pond from 

 the brook through a subterranean pipe which supplied it 

 with water. Those that remain in the ponds are usually 

 much larger than those found in the stream : these are 

 often small — say, a pound to two pounds in weight. In 

 the spawning season, however, they come out from the 

 ponds and go up the brook in pairs or trios. They keep 

 close together side by side — the largest in the centre when 

 there are three. The brook at that time seems full of 

 jacks ; and to any one who has been accustomed to stroll 

 along it is surprising where they all come from. 



Although the jacks lie in the quiet ponds most of the 

 time, yet some of them travel about a great deal, especially 

 the smaller ones ranging from one to two pounds. These 

 will leap a bay or dam if it interrupts their voyaging down 

 the stream. I have seen a young jack, about a foot long, 



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