CURRENT LITERATURE.
Water-Side Sketches. By W. Senior (" Red Spinner "). (Grant.)— " Practical Notes " are the words which form the heading of most of Mr. Senior's chapters, and his treatment of the subject bears out the pro- mise which they give. The Thames, the Devonshire streams, the Wharfe, the waters of Ireland, the Norfolk Broads, and the Welsh streams, now, for the most part, harried most terribly by the tourist (every other traveller in North Wales during July and August has a rod in his hand), form in turn the subject of his descriptions and his advice. He is free, we are glad to observe, from the insufferable con- ceit which makes some fly-fishers despise all other kinds of angling. We doubt, indeed, whether ho is quite as much at home with the humbler sorts of fish as he is w;th the trout and the grayling. As for the gudgeon, for instance, he remarks that "in running water, it is unneces- sary to use a float, for the gudgeon grubs on the ground like the barbel, which it somewhat resembles, and may be followed with the stream, the line shotted according to circumstances." Tim present writer has fished for gudgeon for more than thirty years in the Thames, and has never seen a lino without a float used either by professional or amateur. In five or six feet of water—and this is the common depth for a "gudgeon swim "—to fish without a float would be almost im possible. From the bank—a few spots accepted—little can be done, though here, of course, the method would be more practicable. Bream-fishing in the Ouse is another kind of coarse fishing which the author describes with spirit, and ho has something worth reading to say about pike-fishing. lie has noticed, we see, the curious fact that comes within the observation of almost every angler, the extraordinary caprice with which fish will select the bait of one fisherman and consistently reject the other. The unsuccessful man may be the more skilful of the two. Sometimes the circumstances may be such—trailing behind a boat, for instance, in which skill can hardly be shown—and yet the same unaccountable preference will bo shown. We heartily recommend this amusing and useful little book.
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