FEEDING FISHES. 



11 



Some waters are more nourishing than others; 

 a tliick kind, it" it is not toul or muddy, is ot" a 

 better consistcnc}', and the parts better disposed, 

 and quahfied for nutrition than those of a more 

 thin and rarified substance ; no element that is 

 j)ure, and without mixture, is well adapted for 

 nourishment, neither can fishes live by pure 

 water, respiration, or sucking in those slender 

 particles of their beloved element alone, without 

 the concurrence and assistance of some grosser 

 and terrene qualities, which are intermingled with 

 those liquid bodies. 



Having mentioned that fishes are exposed to 

 numerous enemies, I shall conclude this chapter 

 by giving the reader a poetical enumeration of 

 them. 



A thousand foes the finny people chace, 

 Noraretliev safe from their own kindred race : 

 The pikf , fell tyrant of tlie Hquid pUxin, 

 With rav'nous wasle devours his i'ellow-irain; 

 Yet, howsoe'er with raging famine pin'd, 

 The tench he spares, a salutary kind. 

 Hence too the perch, a hke voracious brood, 

 Forbears to make this geu'rous race his food ; 

 Tlio' on the carnmon drove no bound he finds, 

 But spreads unmeasur'd waste o'er all the kinds, 

 Nor less the greedy trout and gutless eel, 

 Incessant woes, and dire destruction deal. 

 The lurking water-rat in caverns preys; 

 And in the weeds the wily otter slays. 

 The ghastly newt, in muddy streams annoys; 

 And m swil't floods the felly snake destroys; 

 Toads, for the shoaling fry, forsake the lawn; 

 Aiid croaking hogs devour the tender spav/n. 

 Neither the 'habitants of land nor air, 

 (So sure their doom) the fishy numbers^spare! 

 •■J'he swan, fair regent of the silver tide. 

 Their ranks destroys andspreads their ruin wiUe : 

 The duck her oiTspringto the river leads. 

 And on thtdestin'd fry insatiate feeds: 



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