CARPS. 
215 
I favourable to its increase. It feeds greedily 
i during open vreather ; but in the depth of winter 
j buries itself in the mud, and lies inactive. It is 
i easily familiarized to the sight of man, and may 
CARP. 
be taugbt to come to the shallows to be fed by 
hand. It will live a long time out of water, if 
kept moist and cool. 
Carp are occasionally taken in nets in the 
Thames as large as nine, and even ten pounds 
each. The angling season opens at the beginning 
of June, but for the whole of that month the 
fish have hardly recovered from the exhaustion 
attendant on spawning, and therefore are scarcely 
worth the capturing. Towards July, they begin 
to afford excellent sport ; thenceforward the river 
