Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/230

216 is crowded with punts, and numerous anglers throng the banks, among whom may be seen many of the gentler sex. Gudgeon fishing is then the order of the day, and Chub, Roach, and all the coarser kinds of the Cyprinidæ, are taken in great numbers. Barbel fishing begins later, and continues vigorously prosecuted till October, when the coldness of the weather gradually puts a stop to all fishing until the return of genial spring.

The Carp is wary, and often tries both the angler's skill and patience. The small ones, however, may be caught readily, but the large ones seem to have learned wisdom, "long experience having made them sage." They avoid the baited hook and the net; the latter by sinking into the mud, and allowing it to be dragged over them. They delight in still water where there are aquatic plants with large leaves: they feed on worms, the larvæ of insects, the spawn of other fishes, and the shoots and tender leaves of water plants. It is recommended to sow grass-seed around the edges of ponds where Carp are kept.

"There is," says Mr. Jesse, himself a devotee of the gentle art, "a freshness, a repose, an indescribable enjoyment of solitude on the banks of a clear and placid river, which a lover of Nature can alone sufficiently appreciate. The air is so pure on a fine morning in the spring, her breath so sweet as it passes through the snowy hawthorn bushes, the sloping hills are so varied with trees and flowers, and the meadows so fresh and gay, that cold must that heart be, and insensible to the charms of river-scenery, that does not enjoy such a spot, and look around him with delight. Those