PREFACE. I AM persuaded that the amateur, and, in some cases, the experienced, angler, has hitherto suffered from the want of a work which, while setting forth the modus operandi of fishing, should, at the same time, supply items of the natural as well as of the traditional history of the quarry in which he is interested. So far as I know, except the present work, there is none other fulfilling the requirements indicated. With all humility I offer this volume as an earnest, but perchance, a crude attempt to supply the deficiency. In compiling such portions of the book as were unavoidably derived from sources other than my own experience, two courses-judging from early and recent fishing writers-seemed open to me, one, the paraphrasing of others' research without direct acknowledgment, and the other course a complete quotation with full indication from whence derived. I have invariably chosen the latter method, and hence my work may seem here and there to lack originality. To the tyro this will matter little; and the experienced angler will be able to verify whatever I state to be the result of my personal observation, because if he be an able fisherman it will coincide with his own. LONDON, February 1st, 1881. J. H. K. |