Ireland
but not in Scotland.
By the Act for the Protection of Freshwater Fish (Mundella's), passed in 1878, a close season is established in public waters from March 15th to June 15th for all kinds of fish other than the migratory species.
The middle of June is, however, too early for the coarse fish which spawn in March, April, and May, and the pike and roach have not recovered their condition until July at the earliest. The Lea Conservators, indeed, do not allow angling for pike and perch till August 1st, nor for other coarse fish until July 1st.
Minimum Sizes. The limits of size for fish caught in angling vary, according to the quality of the streams, and the standard decided upon by societies or individuals. In rivers where the trout rarely run large, the minimum length is often eight or nine inches. The maximum figure is upon the Thames, the trout of which are a special and most gallant variety; and here the limit fixed by bye-law is sixteen inches, representing a trout, in good condition, of about two pounds. A twelve-inch limit for trout and a ten-inch for grayling are generally considered a sportsmanlike standard. The average scale of the fishing clubs for other species are-Pike, 18 in.; perch, 8 in.; chub, carp, and bream, IO in.; rudd and dace, 6 in.; tench, 8 in.; barbel, 13 in.; gudgeon, 4 in.; roach, 7 in.; bleak, 4 in.; pope, 4 in.
Literature. There is no English sport so rich in literature as angling, and it is of all qualities-theoretical and practical; idyllic and didactic; ranging over the entire watery world, domineering over whale and minnow with equal zest, and abounding with directions, occasionally, perchance, contradictory, and impracticable, as to how to capture the fishes of sea and river. The magnitude of the angler's bookshelves has been indicated on a previous page, in the reference to Westwood and Satchell's Bibliotheca Piscatoria, a monument of painstaking research, careful compilation, and remarkable accuracy. In the thirteen years which have intervened since its issue by authors since deceased, many practical fishing books have been published, and it only remains in this article to specify the useful works by which the angler, in search of information to assist him in his sport, will be faithfully served.
The poetry and lighter literature of angling we may leave for the reader's own discovery. It is not to be supposed that those processes of angling in its various branches, which have been briefly outlined in the foregoing pages, can be wholly learned from books, but the written page is a superstructure upon which experience will rise more rapidly and surely than would otherwise be the case. A recommended selection is appended to the close of the article. 66 WILLIAM SENIOR.
COARSE FISH. - So far as the so-called coarse fish" are concerned, the art of angling has perhaps reached its highest level among those who frequent the lovely reaches of the Thames. Much persecution has rendered the fish of our premier river shy to a degree, and Thames anglers, being put on their mettle, now practise almost every known method of fishing with rod and line, and display an amount of skill which is not excelled on any river in the kingdom. To be a thorough Thames angler is to be one who can catch fish in almost any part of the world, though certain foreigners, such as the mahseer and tarpon, of course require different tackle from that used in English streams. Lambeth [ANGLING fairly fine tackle in his capture, he gives more sport than perhaps any other fish in the Thames, the trout excepted. He spawns in the spring, and for a while after- دو [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
BARBEL. wards, develops a most remarkable appetite, often taking the spinning bait of the trout fisher in the weirpools. However, by the time the angling season opens, which is about June 16th, he begins to feed on worms and other baits. Greaves, called "scratchings on the Trent, gentles, and cheese, will all account for a barbel occasionally, and these fish are very fond of the caddis at the commencement of the season. They sometimes take a lampern in the autumn. But of all baits the worm stands first, and, perhaps, greaves come second.
When the water is very low and clear and the fish seem almost unapproachable, clever anglers occasionally make moderate captures of barbel by using a fine line and a small Librarieshook baited with gentles. They place a lump of stiff ground-bait immediately above the hook; the few gentles on the hook then look as if they formed a portion of the neighbouring mass, This method cannot of course be used in the ordinary heavy barbel swims, but is more suitable to weirpools when the water is almost or quite shut off.
Clay-ball fishing, as it is called, is very similar to this method, but can be practised in stronger streams. Clay into which gentles, greaves, or worms are worked is placed around a tiny cross piece of stick, which is tied into the line just above the bait, or the stick is placed a foot or more above the bait and the gut below, the stick is wound round and round the clay-ball and squeezed into it. This arrangement, if carefully made, can be cast out like a leger. Anyone who can successfully play a large Thames trout on quite fine tackle in a seething weirpool will have no difficulty whatever in capturing salmon on the stouter gut which is commonly used for the king of British fishes; and even the art of dry-fly fishing may be acquired by practising on the dace which, in, alas! far fewer numbers than formerly, frequent the shallows of the lower portion of the river. The peculiar method of fishing followed by the anglers of the Trent-viz., of sending float-tackle a considerable distance down stream by running a fine silk line off the reel, is much practised on the Thames, and, as we have already said, there are no methods of fishing of any account which are unknown to the more successful among Thames fishermen.
Trout and Pike fishing will be found dealt with under separate headings, so wẹ may well begin here with a description of Barbel fishing. Without having the dash and vigour of a trout, the Barbel (Barbus vulgaris) ranks among the strongest of fresh-water fish. Being caught commonly in places where the stream runs strongly, and, unless the water be thick, requiring The barbel is a remarkably uncertain feeder; and to Izaak Walton's dictum that one can fish neither too early nor too late for him, there is nothing to be added. He is essentially a summer-feeding fish, and on the Thames the angler is most likely to meet with success after a fall of rain, particularly if the river is somewhat coloured. One of the most extraordinary takes of late years ANGLING] was made when there had been a long drought; the river had run low, and quantities of barbel had retired into a certain deep hole. Then came a freshet, the hole was fished, the fish fed eagerly, and large numbers were taken.
Considerable care should be observed in choosing a barbel-rod. With coarse tackle, the rod may be fairly stiff, but the water presses heavily on a stout line and, the barbel being shy and fairly well educated, as fine a line as possible should be preferred.
A fine line and a stiff rod spell catastrophe; for the weaker the tackle, the more occasion there is for suppleness in the rod. The favourite line on the Thames is of eight plait silk, smooth, and softly dressed; and a leger is the most common form of tackle at the end of it. The Thames leger consists simply of about a yard of gut with a hook at the end; above it comes a foot of fine gimp, on which is slung a bullet, with a single shot so fixed on each end of the gimp as to prevent the bullet working on to the gut. Beyond the gimp may be still more gut, but this is not absolutely necessary.
This tackle is cast out either off a Nottingham reel or in the Thames fashion, in which the line is pulled off the reel and coiled on the floor of the punt before the cast is made.
After the leger is cast out, the angler awaits a couple of knocks or a steady pull, and then strikes, when, if the fish is large, he will encounter a determined resistance which is increased by the force of the water.
In most Thames barbel-swims, float-tackle is of little use, but in quieter waters, such as one finds in the Trent, and indeed in certain parts of the former river, heavy float tackle can be used with Nottingham methods. Of this Nottingham fishing there are practically two kinds. The more common method consists in allowing a float to work down stream and draw line off the reel. Sometimes the float is cast out and held back. In this last-mentioned method, called "tight-corking," the shot has to be heavy enough to keep the bait on the bottom and the float must be at a greater distance from the bait than the water is deep. Practically, the tackle amounts to a leger with a float, shot taking the place of the bullet. It is a particularly deadly method of catching large roach and other fish when a river is in slight flood and the fish are feeding on the bottom. For "long-corking," except where many shot are required, the favourite float is a quill from the wing of some large bird.
For "tight corking," cork floats are more often used.
Much success with the barbel is not to be obtained without a considerable expenditure of trouble and perhaps money in groundbaiting. Several thousands of lobworms are usually placed in barbel-swims, either fixed in clay balls or thrown in loosely, or allowed to crawl into a sod of turf which is dropped into the river. Another plan is to place the worms with a stone or two in a paper bag, and sink the latter.
The method to be adopted depends largely on the nature of the swim, local knowledge, and so forth.
The object of baiting is, perhaps, not so much to collect the fish as to get them accustomed to feed on a certain kind of food and to view it without suspicion. Their suspicions being lulled, they take the worm on the angler's hook for a time, but as soon as a few fish have been pricked and lost, or the swim becomes disturbed by other reasons, the effects of the ground-bait appear to wear off. Greaves and cheese should be used very sparingly as ground-bait, as they appear to sicken the fish, and lob-worms should be thrown in whole, otherwise the small fry will get them. It is judicious in an ordinary swim to throw in about 500 worms one morning, 300 twenty-four hours later, and fish it on the morning of the following day, While one is fishing, worms or pieces of worms should be thrown in from time to time, and the choicest and the best scoured should be selected for the hook. In large pools, where barbel are plentiful, many more worms may be thrown in with advantage.
The Roach (Leuciscus rutilus) is of all fish the one which yields sport to the largest number of English anglers, and is beloved of the clubmen of both London and the Midlands. A bright, handsome fish, playing for a short time strongly if caught on fine tackle, it is shy to a degree in much-frequented waters. In winter, if properly cooked, it is by no means despicable as food.
SLIDER FLOAT In the commencement of the season, roach are found in the swiftest streams of a river, where they probably go to become reinvigorated after the efforts of spawning. As summer advances, they get into slightly deeper water, and wherever there is a nice, gravelly and sandy bottom, and weeds, reeds or rushes, they may be looked for.
In winter, their swims depend largely on the state of the water and the temperature. If it is very cold, they seek the deepest waters, while if it is warm, they work out into streams of moderate depth. Thick water invariably sends them into shallow swims, which is a point to be remembered, while, when the river runs very clear and the frost is severe, they may be looked for in the deepest holes. Under ordinary “summer conditions the best fish will be found in running water. All fish, it should be noted, rather favour eddies during a flood, for there food is swept and shelter is obtained from the strength of the current. دو The baits for roach are simply unlimited in number and variety. There is hardly any kind of paste which they will not take, and they feed eagerly on wasp-grubs, gentles, the larvæ of all kinds of flies, and [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
ROACH. water insects, and are often caught on the silk weed. To grain, if stewed until it is tender, they are very partial in certain rivers, and even in those waters where it is not regarded as a suitable bait the fish can be induced to feed on it by baiting up swims some days in advance.
The most common method of fishing for roach is with float-tackle, and this may be either used with a tight line, that is to say, the line being made fast to the end of a long rod, or with running tackle. Where rivers are shallow and it is desirable to be at some distance from the fish, there the Nottingham method of casting out a float and allow ing it to travel with the stream is certainly the best, but in deeper waters, where the fish cannot, it may be presumed, see the angler, there the tight line, or Lea method, accounts for the most considerable baskets of fish. [ANGLING Where roach are shy and much fished for, the angler cannot strike too quickly on perceiving a bite. It is obvious that with a tight line and the point of the rod held only a foot or two above the float, the strike can be made quicker than where the float has travelled ten or fifteen yards down stream; not only in the latter case has the elasticity of the line to be overcome, but there is a loss of time between the actual strike and its effect on the fish, during which the bait may be, and often is ejected.
On the Thames, the bank-angler commonly uses a long bamboo roach-pole and tight line; but large numbers of roach are caught from punts moored across the stream by means of poles called ripecks, the angler lowering the line over the side of the punt, letting the float travel three or four yards, then drawing it in and taking a fresh swim.
While this is going on, the attendant will from time to time deposit balls of groundbait over the side, which keeps the fish together and induces them to feed, if not given with a too lavish hand.
Roach-fishing is so largely practised, that many refinements of tackle are affected by the professors of the art, one of the most important of which is, in our opinion, the staining of the gut and the colouring of the hook-shank. In winter the best colour for gut is brown, in summer, green to match the weeds, while the hook-shank should be coloured according to the bait; that is, if gentles are used, white or a very pale yellow; if wheat, wheat-colour; if worms, a brownish-red, and so on. These colours are easily made by mixing a little French polish with the dry colour obtained of the oil-and-colourman. The mixture will dry very quickly.
It is not every tackle-maker who sells roach-hooks mounted on sufficiently fine gut, for the houses which supply trout- and salmon-fishermen almost ignore this branch of their trade. To obtain the best roach tackle, it may therefore be necessary to go to the houses which are patronised by the London bank-anglers. As to the best shape of hook for roach, there is a diversity of opinion, many anglers preferring the crystal bend, while others declare there is nothing so good as the round bend. Silkworm gut is now drawn much finer than horsehair, but not a few anglers still swear by hair on account of its durability, absence of glitter, and for other reasons. A length of drawn gut will fray in the course of a day and, it is believed, is then more visible to the fish than the coarser horsehair, which may perhaps be taken by the fish for a piece of brown weed or some similar natural object.
ANGLING] Baits. To revert to the subject of baits -paste, gentles, and creed or stewed wheat, certainly take the highest rank, and it is a singular fact that in many rivers only small roach appear to prefer gentles, while the larger fish are caught on wheat or paste.
In the early part of the season, a red worm is sometimes found a good bait, and in certain waters, among which the Thames is not one, is regarded all through the year as even better than gentles or paste. In winter, the lobworm is one of the best baits that can be used, provided the water is slightly coloured.
In roach-fishing, ground-bait is all important, and it should be in nature somewhat similar to the hook-bait. One of the best and most commonly used consists of the waste crusts from the bread pan scalded until they are quite soft, the water squeezed out of them, and kneaded into a stiff consistency with the addition of fine bran. To this may be added a little boiled rice, creed wheat, or other food which the roach favour. The amount to be put in depends on the extent of the river and the quantities of fish which are believed to be about.
It is obvious that if there is only a shoal of fifty roach it is useless to throw in enough for two thousand. The fifty fish get gorged and refuse to be caught. One of the secrets of success in roach fishing is to put in a little ground-bait frequently and so induce the fish to keep looking about for food. To throw in a quantity of ground-bait at once simply gives them a big feast, after which they retire contentedly to some shady corner out of the way of hooks, floats, and anglers.
A great many roach are caught on the leger, such as described under the head of Barbel fishing, but it need hardly be said that for this fish the gut should be much lighter than that used for fighting the heavier tenants of the weirpool.
In some rivers, roach come on to the shallows during the summer and will take an artificial fly, particularly if the hook is tipped with a gentle. The fly should be allowed to sink and then be drawn slowly through the water, and the angler should not strike until he sees the line tighten, as the roach does not rise like a trout, but swims for some distance after the fly before sucking it in.
The Rudd (Leuciscus erythrophthalmus) closely resembles the roach in appearance, but it is rather deeper in the belly, has a tail more forked, and its red parts are more brightly coloured. A simple method of distinguishing the two fish is to examine the upper lip. This in the roach will be found capable of a slight elongation and can be pulled down, a convenience which evidently enables the fish to pick up food off the bottom. With the rudd, on the other hand, the upper lip is of a hard, bony, immovable nature.
Rudd are not now, so far as we know, found in the Thames, but are exceedingly plentiful in the waters of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, and in many ponds.
They will take all the usual roach baits, but are particular favourites with the angler by reason of their readiness to seize (rather than to rise at) an artificial fly. Slapton Lea in Devonshire is a noted water for fly fishing for rudd. In hot weather shoals of these fish love to swim over muddy [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
RUDD. shallows, the bottom of which is paved with weedy verdure. Approach them cautiously and cast a fly in their midst, and the whole shoal will swim towards it, the largest after following it for a yard or two sucking it solemnly into its mouth. In some cases, skilful fly-fishers will, by exercising great care in their method of approaching and playing the fish they hook, kill half the shoal or more before the fish take alarm. Floattackle, used when the fish are near the surface, should be cast a long distance, the angler keeping as low as possible. a The Dace (Leuciscus vulgaris) is bright silvery fish, slimmer in shape than, and lacking the red fins of, the roach. It is caught by much the same methods as its more corpulent cousin, but in addition rises like any trout to a fly in shallow waters, and the young would-be trout-fisher cannot do better than try his hand on these pretty fish. Almost any small fly will tempt them, and if they will not rise to the black gnat or other dark fly, a bright Soldier Palmer, or white-winged Coachman should be tried.
In some rivers, they commonly disdain a wet fly and are as a rule only to be caught with a carefully dried dun or other floating fly.
Some of the best dace fishing near London is to be obtained in the tidal waters of the [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
DACE.
Thames, where these fish abound. There, they are usually caught from punts, and it has become a common practice of late years to stir up the bottom behind the punt with a gudgeon rake. This proceeding disturbs various water-insects and slightly colours the water, so that the fish, heading up stream towards the source of the discoloration, come upon the angler's tackle and are caught. Very large dace are often taken by the barbel-fisher, and are in fact regarded by him as a great nuisance. When it is found that there are continual bites which are being missed, and that the lobworm is being bruised about the head, the presence of dace may be at once suspected, and the way to clear the swim of a few is to bait with the head of the lobworm alone.
Though dace are mainly a fish of the shallows, the larger members of the family are frequently caught in deep waters, where their presence would not be suspected.
The Chub (Leuciscus cephalus) is another fly-taking fish, and though almost worthless as food, and treated to words of opprobrium in many a trout stream, he is beloved of Thames and other anglers for the fine sport he affords. Like many other fishes, he seeks the shallows at the commencement of the season, after spawning, but soon retires to holes beneath overhanging willow trees, where anyone peering cautiously over the bows of the boat or punt on some bright sunny day may see a shoal swimming in and out the maze of roots which project into the water. There they lie the summer through, feeding on beetles and caterpillars and other insects which fall into the water from the over- [ANGLING hanging branches. In much-navigated rivers, the fly cannot be used with great success except in early morning, because as soon as the first launch or boat has passed, the fish which are basking near the surface sink to a depth at which they disregard artificial flies. Still, there are many retired shallows and places in which chub may be found until the end of August, and there the fly-fisher still has his opportunity.
In fly-fishing from a boat, success depends as much upon the boatman as on the fly-fisher, the slightest roll of the craft or splash of the oars scaring the fish. The chub indeed is above all famous for his extreme distrust of man. If unaware of the angler's presence, he will take a bait presented to him on tackle of astonishing coarseness, but if he once obtains an inkling that his dread enemy is in the vicinity, no bait, however tasty, presented on the finest of tackle will tempt him. This, of course, as a general rule.
In addition to the flies, which should be large and dressed rather full and heavily hackled, small frogs, lobworms, a bunch of gentles, a piece of beef fat, crayfish-tails, and the large black slugs which come out at night after a showery day, are all placed before this fish by means of a fly-rod.
In deep holes, many a good chub is caught by means of leger-tackle, the bait being greaves or cheese, but perhaps the most general and successful method of angling for these fish is with Nottingham tackle.
A large quill float, fairly heavily shotted, is sent by the side of the bank down stream right among a shoal of chub which, owing to the distance between them and the angler, [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
CHUB. are without suspicion. One of the most favoured summer baits is cheese-paste, while in the winter there is nothing to equal a piece of marrow or pith, previously scalded, from the spine of a bullock. The brains, which have also been scalded, are ANGLING] thrown in as ground-bait. The best line for this particular method of fishing is made of pure undressed silk, either twisted or plaited. The rod should be rather long and powerful to hold the fish from out those roots towards which he is certain to swim when hooked, and the whole proceeding must be conducted with the greatest care and caution. Not many chub are often caught from one spot, and the angler who tries place after place will catch many more than he who sits quietly waiting for the fish to come on the feed.
The Bream (Abramis brama) is a flatsided, deep-bellied, hog-backed fish, which [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
BREAM. 66 abounds in many Midland and East Anglian waters, and is also found in the Thames.
Generally speaking, it is a night-feeder, and enormous numbers are caught between the hours of two or three, and five o'clock in the morning during the months of July and August. In the Thames, a few are caught in barbel swims, and these appear to feed during the day. They are taken there with the leger, but in the slow-flowing rivers of the Fen country the favourite tackle consists of a rod somewhat akin to a hop-pole, a piece of twine, a float such as a Thames angler would use for jack, and what is commonly known as a penny hook." The penny hook is tied immediately to the twine, and above the knot is a strip of lead, probably cut off the nearest gutter. With this very primitive tackle as many fish seem to be caught as with the finer gear used by the Thames anglers. But it is to be remembered that the rivers of the Midlands are more highly coloured than the Thames and Lea, and, as we have said, the fishing is carried out in the early morning when the light is not very good, circumstances under which fine tackle is not particularly called for. The float, too, is so arranged that at least a foot of the line lies on the bottom, and thus is but little observed. Even the worm may be more or less covered with mud, and has to be routed up by the snouts of the fish. As a rule, bream-swims are heavily ground-baited, a favourite bait for this purpose being brewers' grains. The hook bait is usually a worm, but the fish will also take gentles, paste, and creed wheat.
So little do bream feed in the daytime on Midland rivers, that in some of them an angler might fish day by day for a year without discovering that there was a bream in the river. The bream to which we are alluding are the large, bronzy fellows which grow grow to a considerable weight; but in the Norfolk broads and other waters there is a smaller fish of the same family called the Bream-flat (Abramis blicca), which is caught in immense numbers and rarely attains a considerable weight. We have taken these fish on paternoster, leger, and other tackle, and when well on the feed there appears to be no limit to the numbers which may be lifted into the boat.
The essentials of bream fishing, in short, are to fish at an exceedingly early hour in the morning, in fact before daybreak, to moor the punt in a bream-hole, to allow a portion of the line to lie on the bottom, to ground-bait sufficiently some twenty hours previously, and also during the fishing. Of course, the angler should be careful not to disturb the swim. That rule applies to fishing of all kinds. The Perch (Perca fluviatilis), which may be instantly recognised by his striped sides, hog-back, and prickly dorsal fin, is one of the most sport-yielding, and at the same [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
PERCH. time best table, fish found in fresh water.
When large, he is by no means easily caught, but in the days of infancy he bites boldly and foolishly, particularly in ponds.
Like the roach and some other coarse fish, he is found in the streams in spring and summer, retiring to deeper water in winter, the best time to make a large bag being when the river has been in flood and the water has sunk and cleared a little, and the fish have not yet left the large eddies in which they congregated to avoid the force of the current. If, added to these conditions, there are a few frosty nights to whet their appetites, the captures made are likely to be heavy.
In summer time, perch are scattered about the river, and the angler who understands how to use the paternoster will take one here and another there from among holes in the weeds, by the side of the camp sheathing, and near any old wreckage or timber work.
For large perch, there is no better bait than a live gudgeon, but minnows are more commonly used, perhaps because they are more easily obtained. On lakes and ponds, the red worm is very deadly; and in rivers, when the water is much coloured, there is no bait better than the worm. During a summer flood, if a shallow and not too swift swim is baited up with lobworms, good sport may be expected, and the tail of a lobworm is great medicine whenever the water is at all thick. When many anglers consider the Thames quite unfishable, owing to the thick water, there are a few who swim the tail of a lobworm round small eddies close to the bank, taking out a perch here and a perch there, and occasionally chub and roach. In lakes, perch sometimes take flies, such as a large red Palmer, and they will dash at small bright spinning baits at any time and in any water.
The paternoster, a piece of tackle rarely used for any other fresh-water fish except perch, is to be made in the following manner: Take a three-yard length of fine gut and make two loops in it about eighteen inches apart, the lower one being only three inches above the end of the collar. To this lower end attach a pear-shaped lead of about half an ounce or less, the other end being fastened to the running line. Fasten to the large loops in the upright portion of the gut two No. 7 hooks, the gut of which * should be shortened to above five inches.
The paternoster is then ready, and a very much better one than can be purchased in the shops. In rivers, this tackle is baited with minnows or gudgeons (these necessitate larger hooks) and shot rather than lowered into places where perch are expected. The rod should be held exceedingly steady, and immediately the little taptap at the point is felt, which denotes a [ANGLING perch, the point should be lowered for a second or two, then, if it be evident that the fish is feeding, there should be a gentle strike. For a perch of half a pound or upwards it is best to use a landing-net, as these fish have large and delicate mouths from which the hook often comes away in their struggles.
In ponds and lakes, the same tackle may be used, substituting worms for minnows, though minnows are preferable if they can be obtained. Where worms are the bait, it is as well to have a good supply and to throw in a few occasionally to keep the perch round about and on the feed. Almost the same float-tackle can be used for perch as for roach, except that it may be a trifle coarser, and the hook a little larger; but as regards the hook, this should always suit the bait in the matter of size.
If there is some place where perch are known to be and the fish are exceedingly shy and difficult to catch, it is a good plan to use the finest possible float-tackle, and to wait patiently till a perch takes it; and, as we have said, if worms are the bait, a few should be thrown in from time to time.
We have known perch caught on legertackle in rivers when they could be taken by no other means, the bait being a gudgeon.
The reason probably is that the gut of the leger lies on the ground and is not seen by the fish, whereas with float tackle or a paternoster, a very visible line comes from the surface of the water to the bottom immediately over their heads. Tench (Tinca vulgaris) may be easily known by their greenish-bronze colour, small bright red eyes, and minute scales covered with a thick, tenacious mucus.
When of small size in ponds, they are easily caught with paste or worms, but when large, whether in rivers or ponds, they are, as a rule, shy to a degree, but bite well enough when the water is thick. In rivers they should be fished for carefully close to the edge of, but not on, a bank of mud from out of which grow water-lilies and other weeds, and if there is an old root or two about so much the better. They may be caught either on float or leger-tackle, or by the method termed "tight-corking," already described. They feed best in spring and early summer, but are sometimes taken in winter if the weather is mild and the water coloured. One secret of success is to use a small hook, thoroughly well covered with the bait, and give the fish plenty of time. Congealed blood is used as a bait with much success in some canals and other waters. With it, the strike should come sooner than with worms.
ANGLING] Those who would catch large tench should guilla vulgaris) will not take, and few be on the water soon after daybreak. [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
GREEN TENCH.
The Carp (Cyprinus carpio) is perhaps the shyest fish that swims. It is usually angled for during the summer, one of the best baits being a parboiled potato placed on a small triangle by means of a baiting needle. Paste sweetened with honey, worms of various kinds, boiled wheat, green peas, wasp-grubs, cheese, &c., are also used with varying success.
Carp are mostly caught in the very early morning or late evening. Ground-bait is essential, and it should resemble the hook bait but be coarser in character. In suitable places the leger answers well, as it is less visible to the fish than other tackle.
But those anglers who can cast out a float a considerable distance use that form of tackle with much success in lakes. In enclosed waters, it is a good plan to bait up several spots and, after catching a fish from [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
CARP. one, to go to another, so as to give the first swim a rest.
There are few baits which the Eel (Anwaters in which this valuable food fish is not found. The leger and ordinary floattackle baited with worms are both much used. There is also a method called bobbing, or clod-fishing, which consists of stringing a number of big worms from end to end on a piece of worsted, looping them up into a lump resembling a small mophead, and lowering them to the bottom by means of a cord and a short stout stick or bamboo. The eel's teeth catch in the worsted and the fish can be lifted up and dropped into a pail in the punt. Bobbing is much practised at the mouths of streams during a rise and discoloration of water.
On hot summer days when eels are lying in holes in banks, sniggling is practised.
The sniggler takes a long needle, whips on inserts the needle in a worm, just bringing a piece of fine line to the centre of it, and out the point, which is stuck into the end [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
GUDGEON. of a stick. The needle encased in the worm is then placed in front of the eel's nose, and if it is taken and swallowed the sniggler puts on a gentle but continuous pressure until the eel's strength gives way and he is drawn out with the needle athwart his throat.
Eels are also caught in baskets, which should be baited with live gudgeon. The best baskets are made of withies. We cannot recommend those constructed of wire. Thousands of eels are taken in fixed traps or weirs, and in eel-nets placed across the rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk. Spearing eels is very good fun. Sometimes the method is practised, indiscriminately over mudbanks, or if the water is clear, the mud is prodded only where blow-holes are seen.
In spring-time, the spear is used in the feathery green weeds, beloved of pike, which are seen in masses on the bottom of rivers. small, round-bodied, brown-backed fish, The Gudgeon (Gobio fluviatilis) is a F which abounds in many rivers, and, as a general rule, is very easily caught. Like the barbel, which it somewhat resembles in shape, it is a summer-feeding fish, and is caught close to the bottom.
For this branch of angling, fine roach tackle is most suitable, but the hook should be very small and baited with a fragment of red worm or brandling. At the slightest depression of the float the angler should strike. Ground-bait is rarely used for gudgeon, the better plan being to disturb the bottom from time to time with a heavy long-handled rake made for the purpose.
It is important to plumb the depth and adjust the float with great accuracy. The bait should float down stream as near the bottom as possible without touching it. On the Thames, bags of twenty dozen or more of these fish are sometimes made by two rods in a day. As regards choosing a swim, the fish love a shallow over which the river [ANGLING The Stone Loach (Nemacheilus barbatula), Colloch, or Colley bait of Ireland, is also a valuable bait, particularly for [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
POPE. salmon and trout, and is usually caught by turning over the stone under which it lies.
A tap with a hammer on the stone will sometimes stun it.
The Ruffe (Acerina vulgaris) or Pope is a kind of miniature perch. It is shaped like the perch, but has the colour of a gudgeon. It exudes a nasty slime, and has some poisonous spikes on the corner of its gill covers. It has a vexatious habit of swallowing the bait and hook.
The Miller's Thumb (Cottus gobio) is a quaint monstrosity, nearly all head. It is [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
BLEAK. flows gently, on the edge of a deep hole.
As the summer wanes, they gradually get into deeper water. The bottom should be sandy gravel, i.e., not too hard. As a table fish, gudgeon are most excellent, and they make first-rate baits for perch, pike, trout, and salmon.
There only now remain the small fry which are principally used for bait. Bleak (Alburnus lucidus), however, rise eagerly to a fly, and are caught without difficulty by means of a single gentle, caddis, or piece of paste. They afford grand sport to the young angler during the summer, and, particularly if toughened in spirits of wine, or other preservative, are first-rate spinning baits if mounted on the Chapman spinner or one of its varieties.
The Minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus), a useful bait, is found in most brooks and rivers, and is best taken by means of a square or round net with fine meshes which is lowered to the bottom. As soon as the minnows swim over, it is rapidly lifted. [Photo. by W. B. and S. C. Johnson.
THE MILLER'S THUMB. found under stones in the shallows of small brooks.
ANGLING] Of the Stickleback (Gasterosteus spinulosus), of which there are several varieties, little need be said. From the naturalist's point of view it is highly interesting as to its breeding habits, and urchins may be seen catching them any day by means of a red worm tied to the end of a piece of cotton.
The greedy stickleback half swallows the worm and is lifted out before it has time to leave go.
The Lamprey, Burbolt, or Eel-Pout, the Azurine, the Vendace, the Powan, the Gwyniad, and the Graining are other rare fish, of a kind which do not as a rule afford sport to the angler. (The Flounder, which is found indifferently in fresh and salt water, is dealt with under the head of Sea-Fishing.) JOHN BICKERDYKE.
AMERICAN ANGLING.- [See Black Bass, Ouananiche, Tarpon, &c.] INDIAN ANGLING. - Mahseer. - The Mahseer (Barbus tor), the largest of the Carp Carp family family (Cyprinide (Cyprinide), commonly running to fifty pounds in weight, and attaining as much as one hundred and fifty pounds, has its habitat only in large, rocky, mountain rivers. In such rivers, it is distributed throughout the continent of India, extending into Afghanistan, Chitral, Burmah, and China, and seemingly Japan also. It is the most sporting fish in the East, the violence of its first rush on feeling the restraint of the hook being astounding, and constituting a special difficulty in its capture. It does not take the bait, as a salmon or trout ordinarily does, leisurely rising and leisurely returning to its place, but with a sudden blow which takes the angler by surprise, and which will even jerk the salmon-rod out of his hands, if he is unprepared. And this blow is instantly followed by a violent rush to which the run of a salmon can bear no comparison. The rapidity of this rush is accounted for by measurements of the tail and fins as compared with the rest of the body of the fish, which show that the superficial areas of the propelling and directing powers amount together to as much as the superficial area of the whole of the rest of the Mahseer's body.
The sudden jerk and violent rush make it necessary to fish for it with a thoroughly pliable salmon-rod, that will yield to the first rush more rapidly than it is possible for the angler's hand to do, to yield indeed before the effect of the blow has even reached the angler's hand, and so to allow the line to run out, but for which the strongest tackle that can be well used with a rod must be broken. The tackle too must be good and strong, and the running line, the same as for salmon, should be one hundred and fifty yards long. Other rushes also the Mahseer will make before he yields, but none such as his first for suddenness and rapidity.
Another peculiarity of the Mahseer is that, differing herein from most predatory fish, it has no teeth at all in its soft, leathery mouth. In lieu thereof, it is furnished with great muscular power of jaw, by means of which it can exercise such a violent power of compression, that its prey is stunned and squeezed lifeless at the moment of capture. I have even noticed a fishing spoon, the size and thickness of an ordinary dessert spoon, crumpled up by it like a piece of paper. The spoons used must therefore be stout and strong, and the hooks of specially stout wire, not to resist tension, but to stand this violent power of compression. To produce the results it does, the Mahseer must also have a property very unusual in a fish, but with which we are familiar in the Tiger and its pad, of rigidifying the soft parts of the mouth at the moment of delivering its blow. The smallest Mahseer can be taken with an artificial fly, the size of a salmon-fly, in the smaller tributaries, and in the shallows; but the best lure for the larger Mahseer is undoubtedly a small fish, or its imitation a spoon; and spoons are more used than any other bait, and of sizes varying from threequarters of an inch to three inches in length, the general preference being for spoons one and three-quarters to two inches long. The three-inch spoon is used only in deep waters, for the rocky pools in which Mahseer delight are often twenty feet deep, and there the larger spoon shows best.
The spoons must be mounted with treble hooks made of specially strong wire.
When the water is flood-coloured, Mahseer may be taken legering with a live bait at the bottom. In places where frogs abound, they are also taken with that lure, and if the place has been freely groundbaited, they may also be taken with parched grain bored to receive the hook. But this last style of fishing is only practised in special localities.
When rivers are coloured and chilled with melted snow-water, the Mahseer will take no bait. The best season in the South and on the West Coast is August, September, and October, when the rivers have cleared from the floods; while in Northern India it is, with exceptions, March and October.
In flood time, Mahseer migrate long dis- F2 or tances up stream, ascending thousands of feet for the purpose of spawning at altitudes at which the water, though deep enough to hold the parent fish in flood time, will, by the time the spawn is hatched, have so dwindled that only tiny fry can stay in it, and the tiny fry will thus be safe from their larger predatory parents, which have meanwhile dropped down stream to their former habitats in the deeper rocky pools.
Rohu. The Rohu, Rahu, Rohi, Rohita, as it is variously called in various localities, is the Labeo rohita of science, and may be taken as a typical specimen of the genus Labeo, of which genus there are twenty-five species. Of these, eight run large, attaining respectively to one and a half feet, two feet, three feet, and nearly five feet in length. The Rohu is distributed all over Northern India, attains three feet in length, is well known for its high edible qualities, and the excellent sport it shows, and it has been caught on the rod up to fifty-four pounds. As fry, it enters reservoirs through the river channels by which they are fed. The manner of its capture bears some similitude to roach-fishing, but the Rohu is as far above the roach in the nicety of skill required for its capture, in the play it shows when hooked, and in its flavour on the table, as it is in size. After ground-baiting for three days, it is fished for with a lump of paste bait from the size of the thumb-nail to the size of the end joint of the thumb, on a No. I Limerick hook, resting on the ground, the depth having been taken, and the float adjusted and readjusted with such careful accuracy, that it neither lies down upon the water nor stands straight up, but is tilted so as to ride at an angle of about forty-five degrees with the surface of the water. This float, a special one, much more sensitive than anything used in roach-fishing, known in India as the Detective, is made of six inches of the stem of a peacock's tail feather, selecting the part that is one-eighth of an inch thick, with a loop attached at the thin end only. Half an inch at the top end is painted vermilion with oil colour, half an inch left white, and then again red and white alternately till there are three half-inch bands of red and two of white, the rest being left white. The rod too is a special one, much stronger than a roach-rod, but as light and rigid, made of what is called in the tackle trade "whole cane," though it is not cane, which is a ground-creeper, but bamboo, which is a grass. The bamboo is a special one known as the Ringol, or solid bamboo, and is ten feet long. If longer, the float would be too far off for the bites to be visible. The float [ANGLING is exactly under the rod-top. The line is of single stout gut at the end, and no shot are put upon it, only a little soft lead wire is wound round the head of the hook, so that it will rest on the bottom, and be concealed by the bait. The running line has to be fine so that it shall not weight the very sensitive float. In the rains the Rohu bite so freely that any ordinary roach-float would suffice, and the stroke should be made as for roach. But when the periodical rains have passed, or where the Rohu have been much fished, they bite so subtly, that the bite of a ten- or twenty-pound fish would not be perceptible on an ordinary roachfloat. With the Detective float the first sign of a bite is given by the float leaving the angle at which it rode, and standing upright, thus attracting close attention to the fine bite that is to follow. Then the float begins to move up and down, but so slowly and so slightly that the eye could not follow the movement but for the aid of the alternate bands of red and white. This may go on for minutes that seem hours, the float going gradually and very slowly deeper and deeper till it nearly goes under, but it is of no use to strike till there comes a rapid succession of small bobs, sometimes no more than a vibration or quiver, but rapid. Then is the critical second, and the stroke must be delivered instantaneously, or it will be too late, and the same fish will thus steal the bait ten or twenty times, unless the angler is quick at the critical second. If he is, his reward is a fish that may be only two pounds, or may be twenty or thirty or more, and will make a good fight before it can be landed with so light a rod and tackle.
The stolen bait serves to keep the fish round the angler, and when once the fish are collected the bites frequently follow each other in quick succession. But it nevertheless requires great quickness of eye and hand to make a good bag. One rod has been known to kill two hundred pounds weight in a Weigh day, from twenty-seven pounds and twentythree pounds each downwards, the smallest being two pounds.
Kalbans. Kālbans, the usual abbreviation of the more correct vernacular Kālăbans, is Labeo calbasu, the scientific name having been incorrectly adopted from the vernacular. It is a thick, deep fish running to three feet in length, and certainly over twenty pounds in weight, found in the still waters of rivers throughout India; like the Rohu, getting as fry into reservoirs by the channels by which they are fed, flourishing there, and there fished for just like the Rohu. It adds to the sport that the bite of one is so like the bite of the other, that con- ANGLING] jecture is busy as to which fish may be biting.
Mirgha. The Mirgha (Cirrhina mirgala) inhabits the same waters as the Kalbans, grows to the same size, and is fished for in precisely the same way, but is a more active fish in play.
White Carp.- The White Carp (Cirrhina cirrhosa) grows to half the size of the Mirgha, but is otherwise similar, in locality, method of fishing, and activity.
Catla. The Catla (Catla buchanani), a thick fish that attains six feet in length, has been caught with a rod up to one hundred pounds in weight, in the same localities, at the same time, employing the same baits and tackle, as for Rohu. It is much esteemed as food.
Carnatic Carp. -The Carnatic Carp (Barbus carnaticus), though sometimes found in the runs, generally affects the stiller parts of the same rivers as support the Mahseer, though it also strays further into the plains away from the foot of the mountains, not being so dependent on rock for its food supplies. It attains twentyfive pounds, but is more ordinarily taken from two to seven or eight pounds. Swimming in shoals like dace, and rising to a fly in the same manner as they do, it affords excellent sport to the angler fishing with a fourteen feet double-handed trout-rod, casting three flies, the sizes of a medium and a small salmon-fly, and of a large lochtrout fly, on a collar of single salmon-gut. They are chiefly found in the deep eddies under the shade of the forest trees, whose leaves and flowers they largely feed upon.
The larger take a small trout spoon readily.
Chital. The Chital or Seetul (Notopterus chitala), which favours the larger rivers of Northern India, Burmah, and Siam, attains four feet in length. Silver sided, very flat and deep, it feeds on the bottom, but swims horizontally, and is a very game fish to the angler, leaping four feet into the air again and again on being hooked, and otherwise showing great activity. It has a very small head and mouth, so the bait must be small, and there is none better than its natural food the small mullet (Mugil cascasia), three and a half inches long, mounted on small trebles, and spun very slowly close to the bottom, where it may be allowed to rest from time to time.
The bite of this large fish, which runs to eighty pounds, and is very commonly taken at twelve or sixteen pounds, is a very small nibble, which it needs a light hand to feel, and which must be answered immediately.
It has a smaller congener in Southern India, Notopterus kapirat, which does not run over two pounds, and may be taken in the same way, or with prawn or worm.
Freshwater Sharks. Indian rivers supply many of these Siluroids, of which it will suffice to mention Bagarius yarrellii, Silundia gangetica, Wallago attu, which have no English synonyms, except that of Freshwater Sharks, and each of which attains six feet in length, and two other Macrones which run to much the same size.
They feed mostly at the bottom, using their feelers as much as their eyes, and should be fished for with a live bait of about half a pound on a line weighted to the bottom, the hooks being such as would be used in England for Pike, mounted on stout gimp or wire, as these fish have very formidable teeth, and a grip so strong that it is very difficult to loosen when once they have closed on an object. For landing them, a gaff-hook is necessary. Though they offer strong resistance, taking out line with no denial, they display no great activity, and therein sink, as a game fish, to the low level of the Pike, though as regards size and teeth, they compare with him much as a tiger might with a cat. Space will not allow of the mention of the numerous species of lesser Siluroids with which the waters of the East abound.
Baril. There are several species of Barilius, running about the size of a hungry beck-trout, which are keen takers of a small trout-fly, as many as seven dozen having been taken in a forenoon. One of the genus Baril (Barilius bola) is said to attain five pounds in weight, but ordinarily runs to one and a half pounds, and swimming in shoals, as many as three have, on occasion, been taken at one cast on a collar of three flies the size of a loch-trout fly. Though not of the Salmonidæ, they bear such a strong resemblance to a Trout, that they are commonly called the Indian Trout, and are held in very high esteem by the angler as a sporting fish.
Chilwa. The Chilwa (Aspidoparia morar), misnamed by science Chela, may be called the Indian Bleak. So small a fish (six inches) would not be mentioned, but for its extraordinary numbers and the rapidity with which it may be taken with a small fly, which make it very popular with some, forty, fifty, and even sixty having been taken in an hour by one rod with two flies up.
Ba-min and Begtie. These are sea fish entering estuaries, to be taken similarly, spinning as for Salmon, but with hooks mounted on gimp or wire.
The Bàmìn (Polynemus tetradactylus) attains six feet in length, and commonly runs from ten to twenty pounds, and is celebrated for the amount of tackle it breaks, on account of its extraordinary activity and strength. The Begtie (Lates calcarifer) runs over thirty pounds, and is much esteemed for food. It is known to Europeans as the Cock-up.
Megalops. Megalops cyprinoides is estuarial, but accommodates itself to fresh water in ponds, runs to 18 in. in length, and may be taken with a white loch-fly or a trout-spoon. It is active.
Marral. - The Marral (Ophiocephalus marulius) attains four feet; four other species of the same genus attain three feet.
They are found in the still pools in rivers, and in ponds, are similar to the Pike in their habits, but are best taken at the surface with a live frog.
Hilsa. The Hilsa (Clupea ilisha) is far famed for its specially excellent flavour, and is said to take a white fly. But to treat of these, and Mangoe fish, and Mullets numerous, and Eels of sorts, and Gudgeon attaining 18 in. in length and three pounds in weight, space will not allow.
H. S. THOMAS.
Bibliography.--A Treatyse of Fysshinge with an Angle by Dame Juliana Berners after the Text of the Boke of St. Albans empryinted at Westminstre by Wynkyn the Worde the year of thyncarnasion of our lorde MCCCCLXXXXVI. (Ashendene Press); The Complete Angler, Izaak Walton, edited by John Major, 4th edition, 1844, et sub. (D. Bogue and H. Wix); Das Fischereibuch Kaiser Maximilians I., Lazarini, 1901 (Sampson Low); Practical Fly-Fishing, J.
Brewer (1795-1854), completed C. 1844 (Methuen), 1893; The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, Francis Day (Williams and Norgate), 1880-1884; A Book on Angling, Francis Francis (Longmans), 6th edition, 1885; The Nottingham Style of Float-Fishing and Spinning, J. W. Martin, "The Trent Otter" (Sampson Low), 1885; Practical Letters to Young Sea- Fishers, John Bickerdyke (Cox), 1898; Angling, Robert Blakey (Routledge), 1898; Fly-Fishing, Sir E. Grey (Dent), 1899; Red Palmer: A Practical Treatise on Fly-Fishing, J. Taylor (Effingham, Wilson and Co.), 1900; The Book of the All-Round Angler, John Bickerdyke (Upcott Gill), 1900; Dry-Fly Fishing, F. M. Halford (Vinton), 1902; Wet-Fly Fishing, E. M. Tod (Sampson Low), 1903; British Freshwater Fishes, Sir H. Maxwell (Hutchinson), 1904; British Saltwater Fishes, F. G. Aflalo, with a chapter on The Artificial Culture of Sea Fish by R. B.
Marston (Hutchinson), 1904; The Complete Fisherman, W. M. Gallichan (Werner Laurie), 1907; Elements of Angling, H. T. Sherringham (Cox), 1908; Big Game at Sea, C. F. Holder (Hodder and Stoughton), 1908; The Gentle Ar of Angling, "Corrigeen" (Vinton), 1909; An Angler's Season, W. Earl Hodgson (Black), 1909; Favourite Fish and Fishing, Jas. A. Henshall (Grant Richards), 1909. - SALMON, TROUT, AND GRAYLING:-Salmonia, Sir Humphry Davy, 1828, 4th edition, 1851 (Murray); Fishing for Salmon, Trout, and Grayling, E. Hamilton (Sampson [ANGLING Low), 1884; Salmon and Trout, Badminton Library (Longmans), 1885; The Book of the Grayling, T. E. Pritt (Goodall and Suddick), 1888; Rod and River, Major A. T. Fisher (Bentley), 1892; The Ouananiche, E. T. D.
Chambers (Harper), 1896; The Trout, Marquess of Granby (Longmans), 1898; The Rainbow Trout, C. E. Walker and C. S. Patterson (Lawrence and Bullen), 1898; The South-Country Trout Streams, G. A. B. Dewar (Lawrence and Bullen), 1899; Grayling Fishing in South-Country Streams, H. A. Rolt (Sampson Low), 1901; Salmon and Trout, Dean Sage and others (Macmillan), 1902; The Salmon Rivers of Scotland, 1902: of Ireland, 1903, and The Salmon and Sea- Trout Rivers of England and Wales, 1904, A.
Grimble (Kegan Paul); Salmon and Sea-Trout, Sir H. Maxwell (Routledge), 1905; The Practical Angler, or the Art of Trout Fishing, W. C.
Stewart (Black), 1905; Salmon Fishing, Earl Hodgson (Black), 1906; The Trout Waters of England, W. M. Gallichan (Foulis), 1908.-BASS AND OTHER and Perch, A. Jardine :-Pike and Perch, A. Jardine (Lawrence and Bullen), 1898; Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others, J. A. Henshall, M.D. (Macmillan), 1903; Big-Game Fishes of the United States, C. F. Holder (Macmillan), 1903; The Mighty Mahseer and Other Fish, "Skene-Dhu" (Higginbotham, Madras), 1906; Tarpon Fishing in Mexico and Florida, E. G. S. Churchill (Harrison), 1907; The Trent Otter on Coarse-Fish Angling, J. W.
Martin (Martin), 1908.-FISHING HAUNTS :- Tank Angling in India, H. S. Thomas (Hamilton Adams), 1887; Near and Far, W. Senior (Sampson Low), 1888; Fishing and Shooting on the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R. Co.); The Rod in India, H. S. Thomas (Thacker), 1897; The Lakes and Rivers of Austria, Bavaria, and Hungary, Colonel G. B. Malleson (Chapman and Hall), 1897; The English Angler in Florida, R.
Ward (Ward), 1898; The English Lake District Fisheries, J. Watson (Lawrence and Bullen), 1899; Dover as a Sea-Angling Centre, Deputy- Surgeon-General C. T. Paske (Goulder's Library, Dover), 1900; The Norfolk Broads, W. A. Dutt and others (Methuen), 1902; The Giant Fish_of Florida, J. Turner-Turner (Pearson), 1902; Gun and Rod in New Brunswick, Hon. A. T. Dunn, Surveyor-General, 1904; Trout Fishing and Sport in Maoriland, G. D. Hamilton (Government Printing Office, Wellington, N.Z.), 1904; Fishing in Wales, 1903; Fishing and Travel in Spain, 1904; Fishing in Derbyshire, 1905, W. M. Gallichan (Robinson); Salmon Fishing on the Grand Cascapedia, E. W. Davis (N.Y.), 1904; How and Where to Fish in Ireland, "Hi Regan" (Sampson Low), 1904; Sport in New Zealand, M. Craddock (Treherne), 1904; Sunshine and Sport in Florida and the West Indies, F. G. Aflalo (Werner Laurie), 1907; Thirty Seasons in Scandinavia, E. B. Kennedy (Arnold), 1907; Fishing in British Columbia, T. W. Lambert (Cox), 1907; Chasse et Pêche en France, L. Boppe (Berger Levrault), 1900.-ICHTHYOLOGICAL:-The Angler Naturalist, H. C. Pennell (Routledge), 1863; Domesticated Trout, Livingstone Stone (Osgood, Boston), 1877; The Practical Management of Fisheries, Francis Francis (Cox), 1883; Salmon Problems, J. Willis Bund (Sampson Low), 1885; The Freshwater Fisheries of Europe, H. G. Seeley (Cassell), 1886; Fishes of New Zealand, R. A. A.
Sherrin (Auckland), 1886; British and Irish Salmonida, Dr. Day (Cox), 1887; Habits of the Salmon, Major J. P. Traherne (Chapman and Hall), 1889; A Handy Book of Fishing Management, J. Willis Bund (Lawrence and Bullen), 1899; Amateur Fish Culture, C. E. Walker (Con- ANTELOPES] stable), 1901; Making a Fishery, F. M. Halford (Cox), 1902; The Life of the Salmon, W. L.
Calderwood (Arnold), 1907.-FLIES, &c.:-Fly Rods and Fly Tackle, H. P. Wells (Sampson Low), 1885; Modern Improvements in Fishing Tackle, H. Cholmondeley Pennell (Sampson Low), 1887; How to Tie Salmon Flies, Captain J. H. Hall (Sampson Low), 1892; The Salmon Fly, J. M. Kelson (Wyman), 1895; The Book of the Dry Fly, G. A. B. Dewar (Lawrence and Bullen), 1897; The Trout Fly Dresser's Cabinet of Devices, H. G. MacClelland (Sampson Low), 1899; Tips, G. M. Kelson ( Kelson), 1901; The Fly Fisher's Entomology, A. Ronalds (Longmans), 1901; Favourite Flies, Mary Orvis Marbury (Sampson Low), 1892. -LEGAL:- Digest of the Irish Fishery Acts, Sir Thos. Brady (Eyre and Spottiswoode), new edition, 1891; Law of Scotland-as Game Law, G. H. Tait (Green, Edinburgh), 1901; Oke's Fishing Laws, J. Willis Bund (Butterworth), 3rd edition, 1903. دو ANTELOPES (Characters and Distribution of). The term "Antelope " is so familiar to all, that it may be a matter of surprise to many to learn it is one totally incapable of definition. Nevertheless, this affords no reason for the rejection of the name, which, in its widest sense, is the most convenient collective title for a large and important group of Hollow-horned Ruminants coming under the designation neither of Oxen, Sheep, nor Goats. By zoologists, the Hollow-horned Ruminants, or Bovidae, are divided into a number of sectional groups, or sub-families, one of which includes the Oxen, and a second the Sheep and Goats, while the others contain among them the various Antelopes and certain forms serving to connect the latter with the Goats. It is thus evident that the term "Antelope" has not the same zoological significance as Oxen, but comprises a number of more or less distinct groups ranking in the same grade as the latter.
Some of the groups of Antelopes are, indeed, closely related to the Oxen-with which they are connected by means of the Anoa of Celebes-while others exhibit an equally intimate relationship with the Goats and Sheep.
In its widest acceptation, the term Antelope may, as already said, be taken to include all the members of the Bovidae which are neither Oxen, Sheep, nor Goats. There is, however, an intermediate group connecting the more typical Antelopes with the Goats, and hence termed the Goat-like Antelopes. These are all mountain-dwelling forms, and include the Gorals (Cemas) and Serows (Nemorhaedus) of Eastern Asia, the Himalayan Takin (Budorcas), the socalled Rocky Mountain Goat (Haploceros) of North America, and the European Chamois (Rupicapra) - the latter being the most Antelope-like of all. Eliminating these transitional forms-which constitute a sub-family (Rupicaprinae) by themselves, ranking with the Oxen (Bovinae) and Sheep and Goats (Caprinae) - it is somewhat less difficult to give an approximate definition of Antelopes in a popular sense.
True Antelopes, then, are Hollow-horned Ruminants, generally of more or less light and elegant build, and carrying the head raised considerably above the line of the back. Their horns-which may be present either in one or both sexes-differ greatly in relative size, but are quite different from those of either the Oxen or Sheep. As a rule they are more or less cylindrical, while they are frequently somewhat lyre-shaped, and are often ringed for a longer or shorter distance above the base. In most cases their direction is more or less upright; and in certain instances they are spirally twisted.
A very general, although by no means universal, feature of Antelopes, is the presence of a gland beneath the eye, such glands being wanting in the Oxen and Goats, although present in most of the Sheep.
More important is the circumstance that the bony cores supporting the horns of the Antelopes are nearly always solid throughout, whereas those of the other three groups are extensively hollowed internally. An important distinction between the Oxen (Bovinae) on the one hand and the Sheep and Goats (Caprinae) on the other is to be found in the structure of the upper molar teeth, those of the former being nearly square in section, whereas those of the latter are oblong. Among the Antelopes, both these types are to be met with, the Gemsbok and Sable Antelope group having Ox-like molars, whereas those of the Gazelles, Hartebeests, and Gnus are of the Goat-like form. Moreover, certain Antelopes, such as Eland and Kudu, have a third type of molar structure; the crowns of these teeth are short-instead of tall-and thus resemble those of some of the Deer.
These differences alone are sufficient to show that Antelopes in no sense form a single zoological group, but that they comprise a number of distinct groups which for many purposes it is convenient to brigade together under a common designation. Consequently it will be manifest that no further attempt at a definition of the assemblage can be made.
Exclusive of the Goat-like group, these animals may be divided into the following seven sections, or sub-families, viz. :-(1) Bubalinae, Hartebeests and Gnus; (2) Cephalophinae, Duikers and Four-horned Antelope; (3) Neotraginae, Dik-diks, Steinboks, Grysbok, &c., (4) Cervicaprinae, Rhebok, Waterbuck, Rietbok, &c.; (5) Antilopinae, Pallas, Saiga, Chiru, Gazelles, &c.; (6) Hippotraginae, Sable Antelope Oryx, Addax, and their allies; (7) Tragelaphinae, Nilgai, Harnessed Antelopes, Kudu, and Eland.
The whole of the numerous Antelopes comprised in these seven groups are exclusively confined to the Old World, while the great majority are restricted to Africa south of the northern tropic, or at least to Africa with Syria and Arabia. The first section, for instance, has no representatives beyond the countries named, and it is indeed only one species of Hartebeest that is even found beyond Africa, the Gnus being restricted to those portions of that continent lying south of the northern tropic. In the second section, the Four-horned Antelope is Indian, whereas all the numerous species of Duikers (Cephalophus) are restricted to Africa south of the Sahara.
The members of the third section all of which are small-sized creatures are absolutely confined to the area last named; and none of the fourth section (Cervicaprinae) extend their range beyond the same limits.
Skipping section (5), it will be found that most of the members of the Hippotraginae inhabit Ethiopian Africa (as that part of the continent lying to the south of the northern tropic is called), although the Addax is found in Northern Africa and Arabia, and the Beatrix Antelope (Oryx beatrix) inhabits the latter country, and is said, indeed, to range as far as Bushire.
Both the groups enjoying this wider range are desert-haunting forms. In the sixth section, the Nilgai (Boselaphus) alone is Indian, all the other forms being Ethiopian.
Reverting to the fifth section, or Antilopinae, we find this the most widely spread of all, most of its representatives being inhabitants of more or less desert districts. Indeed, the only exclusively Ethiopian genus in this group is the one containing the Pallas (Aepyceros). Of the others, the one species of Saiga is confined to the steppes of Central Asia, the Chiru, which alone represents Pantholops, inhabits the highlands of Tibet, while the Blackbuck, forming the sole member of the now restricted genus Antilope, has its home on the plains of India. Of the Gazelles, the typical genus Gazella has the widest distribution of all the Antelopes, ranging from South Africa (where it is represented by the Springbok) through the eastern and northern districts of the same continent, to Syria, Arabia, Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan, northern India, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. Probably this wide distribution is to be accounted for by one [ANTELOPES the desert-frequenting habits of most Gazelles, which has enabled them to traverse districts impassable to the majority of their kindred. The more aberrant Gazelles, such as the Gerenuk (Lithocranius), Clarke's Antelope (Ammodorcas), and the smaller Beira (Dorcatragus), are, however, exclusively confined to Eastern Ethiopia. It will thus be apparent that by far the great majority of Antelopes are Ethiopian (including in this designation part of Arabia), and indeed, with the exception of the Gazelles, the only true Antelopes found elsewhere than Africa, Syria, and Arabia, are the Indian Four-horned Antelope, Valdwell.
BLACKBUCK.
Ht. at shoulder, 32 in. Av. horn meas. 22 in.
Max. horn meas. 40 in.
Blackbuck, and Nilgai, the Tartarian Saiga, and the Tibetan Chiru. Most noteworthy is the circumstance that no true Antelopes are to be found in the countries lying to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal; although Goat-like Antelopes of the genera Cemas and Nemorhaedus range into Burma, China,