[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS of a coarse nature, and full of bones; it seldom exceeds the weight of five pounds. The body is of an oblong shape nearly round; the head, which is large, and the back, are of a deep dusky green, the sides silvery, and the belly white; the pectoral fins are of a pale yellow, the ventral and anal ones red; and the tail brown tinged with blue at its extremity and slightly forked. This fish frequents the deep holes of rivers, but in the summer season, when the sun shoots his golden darts through the pellucidity of the crystal-like waters, to the smooth and resplendent pebbles that pave the bed of the stream, it ascends to the surface and lies quiet under the cooling shade of some trees that spread their foliage on the verdant banks; but yet, though it seems to indulge itself in slumbers, the fear of danger, that innate sense of self-preservation, one of the first laws of Nature, keeps the creature awake, and at the least alarm it dives with rapidity to the bottom. It lives on all sorts of insects; in March and April the Chub is to be caught with large red worms; in June and July with flies, snails and cherries; but in August and September the proper bait is good cheese pounded in a mortar, with some saffron and a little butter. Some make a paste of cheese and Venice turpentine for the Chub in winter, at which season this fish is much better than at any other, the bones are less troublesome, being more easily separated from the flesh in this season, and the flesh more firm and better tasted: the roe is also well flavoured in general. If the angler keeps his bait at the bottom in cold weather, and near the surface in the hot season, the fish is sure to bite soon, and will afford a much pleasing sport.
