466 
VERTEBRATA. 
boar and the fox, as a creature above utility, and made specially for sport. It is to all intents 
and purposes a fisb of prey ; to this end every part of its frame is adapted by the master hand 
of nature. " The elongated form of his body," says Herbert, " tapering forward and aft with the 
most gradually curvated lines, like the entrance and the van of some swift-sailing barque, enables 
him to glide through the swift water in which he loves to dwell, displacing its particles with the 
least resistance ; the powerful muscles and strong branched rays of his broad and vigorous cau- 
dal fin serve as a propeller, by which he can command an immense degree of momentum and 
velocity, and ascend the sharpest rapids. K"o one Avho has felt the arrowy rush of a fifteen 
pound salmon, when struck with the barbed steel, will be inclined to undervalue his strength, 
his speed, or his agility ; and the numerous and astonishing leaps which he is capable of making, 
to the height of many feet above the surface, either in attempting to rid himself of his hook, or 
in surmounting obstacles to his upward passage in the shape of dams, flood-gates, or cataracts, 
prove the exceeding elasticity, vigor, and strength of his muscular system. 
" The prodigious power of sinew exhibited in the lithe and springy limbs of the quadrupeds 
of prey of the feline order, is not superior in its degree to that possessed by this, the veritable 
monarch of the fresh-water fishes ; nor are the curved fangs and retractile talons more efficacious 
instruments to the lion and the tiger for the seizure of their victims than are the fine rows of 
sharp hooked teeth with which the whole mouth of the salmon is bristled for the prehension and 
detention of his slipj^ery and active prey." 
One of the gi-eatest charms of field-sports consists in breathing the fresh air amid the wilder 
scenes of nature. In this respect fishing, especially river-fishing, has even the advantage of 
shooting and hunting, for it not only leads the sportsman amid the most picturesque scenery, 
consisting of wood and water in every beautiful and fantastic combination of color, grouping, and 
movement, but it allows, by its tranquil pauses, the soul to drink deep of the spirit of beauty 
ever haunting such places. Izaak Walton understood all this, and Herbert graces his vivid de- 
scriptions of the more active experiences of the fisherman with poetic lights and shadows, indi- 
cating an appreciation of the emotions to which we allude. We shall take the liberty to quote 
a passage from his Jasper St, Aubyn, which aff"ords an admirable picture of salmon-fishing as ex- 
ercised in the highest style of the craft : 
" All nature was alive and joyous ; the air was vocal with the piping melody of blackbirds and 
thrushes, caroling in every brake and bosky dingle The shadowy mists of the 
faint morning twilight had not been dispersed from the lower regions, and were suspended still 
in the middle air in broad, fleecy masses, though melting rapidly away in the increasing warmth 
and brightness of the day. A still faint blue line hovered over the bed of the long rocky gorge 
which divided the chasm from the open country, floating about like the steam of a seething 
cauldron, and rising here and there into tall, smoke-like columns, probably where some steeper 
culvert of the mountain stream sent its foam skyward 
" Once at the water's edj^e, the young man's tackle was speedily made ready, and in a few 
minutes his long line went whistling through the air, as he wielded the powei-ful two-handed rod as 
easily as if it had been a stripling's reed, and the large gaudy peacock-fly alighted on the wheeling 
eddies, at the tail of a long arrowy shoot, as gently as if it had settled from too long a flight. 
Delicately, deftly, it was made to dance and skim the clear, brown surface until it had crossed the 
pool and neared the hither bank ; then again, agreeable to the pliant Avrist, it arose on glittering 
wing, circled half round the angler's head, and was sent fifteen yards along, straight as a wild 
bee's flight, into a little mimic whirlpool — scarcely larger than the hat of the skilful fisherman — 
which spun round and round just to leeward of a gray ledge of limestone. 
" Scarce had it reached its mark before the water broke all around it, and the gay deceit van- 
ished ; the heavy swirl of the surface as the break was closing, indicated the great size of the fish 
which had risen. Just as the wave was subsiding, and the forked tail of the monarch of the 
stream was half seen as he descended, that indescribable but well-known turn of the angler's 
wrist fixed the barbed hook, and taught the scaly victim the nature of the j)vej he had gorged 
so easily. 
" With a wild bound he threw himself three feet out of the water, showing his silver sides, with 
