Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/58

44 English amusement. "The inhabitants of the British isles alone, with their colonial descendants, cultivate all matters pertaining to rural sports, of whatsoever kind they may be, but particularly hunting, shooting, and angling, with that persevering ardour, comprising active practice, and passionate study, which leads to perfection. In their efforts to acquire the surest, most amusing, most health-giving, and, I may say, most elegant modes of pursuing and capturing their game, be it the produce of field or flood, they call to their aid several auxiliary studies, amongst which stands prominent one of the pleasantest of all, viz., that of the natural history of animals, and of other things ranking not so high in the scale of creation."

Angling may be considered as divided into three branches, which rise above each other in the skill required for their successful conduct, and therefore in the estimation of those who practise them. All require for their performance the use of a rod, a line, a hook, and a bait. The first is bottom-fishing, which nearly resembles that mode of sea-fishing with the handline, which we have just described. It consists of angling near the bottom of the water, with worms, gentles, bread, paste, and other animate and inanimate baits; it is the simplest, most common, and most primitive mode of angling, "first learned, and last forgotten."

Trolling is more difficult. It is performed in mid-water, that is, neither at the surface, like fly-fishing, nor at the bottom, as the preceding kind. More than one hook is required, and