THE ASIATIC CARP. 
W^rnm 
CARP, DACE AND MINNOW. 
When we please to walk abroad, 
For our recreation, 
In the fields is our abode 
Full of delectation; 
Where in a brook. 
With a hook, 
Or in a lake. 
Fish we take ; 
There we sit 
For a bit, 
Till we fish entangle. 
If the sun’s excessive heat 
Make our bodies swelter. 
To an osier hedge we get 
For a friendly shelter ; 
Where in a dyke, 
Perch or pike, 
Roach or dace, 
We do chase 
Bleak or gudgeon, 
Without grudging ; 
We are still contented. 
Piscator’s Song. 
\ LTHOUGH the fishes of the Carp family have received but slight con- 
sideration from American writers upon angling, I am convinced that 
they deserve a chapter in this book, on account of their growing popularity 
among the great angling-democracy of the nation. They are the favorite 
fishes of hundreds of thousands of modest fresh-water fishermen, and when 
this continent shall have become more densely populated, and the oppor¬ 
tunities for field sports more restricted, it is hoped that the inhabitants of 
our cities, through the intervention of law and fish culture, may have 
opportunities for fishing equal to those now enjoyed by the people of 
Southern England. When that day comes the Cyprinidse must be counted 
upon for the principal contribution to their pleasures. 
Our cyprinoids are known to us, for the most part, by old English 
names—names which are dear to lovers of Waltonian literature, and which 
