mouth, which he swallowed. The fish appear occasionally to disagree among themselves, as I saw one Cod with one eye apparently bitten out, and hanging over its cheek.
"At the time of my visit there were only three kinds of fish in the pond, viz., Cod, Flounder, and a small fish of about three pounds weight (the name of which has escaped my memory); but they frequently preserve Salmon in the same way, besides other kinds. The manner in which they keep up the stock is this. The son of the female who has the charge of the 'preserve' goes out to sea in a boat with a tub or well; and when he catches any fish that he thinks will do, he preserves them in the well, from which he transfers them to the pond, where, in due time, from a month to six weeks, they become tame. A curious scene occurred on one occasion when he put a Mackerel into the pond: there was a general chase after the unfortunate fish, which only saved itself from being devoured by the larger and more ferocious denizens of the place, by running itself on a ledge of rock."[1]
The following remarkable anecdote, communicated to Mr. Jesse by a respectable gentleman in Scotland, would appear to prove that even fishes are not destitute of that measure of reasoning power which enables them to combine cause with effect. "I was ordered to take the cutter I commanded to Port Nessock, near Port Patrick. On landing, I was informed of Colonel M'Dowall's sea fish-pond, and went to look at it. On arriving, I fed the large Cod out of my hand from some mussels which I had in a basin. I purposely,
- ↑ New Sport. Mag. vol. xiii. 12.
