FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



very clumsy bait for casting, even with a powerful 

 salmon rod. One of the most successful flies in 

 Ireland is made of the end of a brown calf's tail, 

 and is not a bad imitation of a water rat, for which, 

 no doubt, the pike take it. 



In " The Angler-Naturalist," Mr. H. Cholmon- 

 deley Pennell relates several instances of persons 

 who were bathing, having been attacked by hungry 

 pike, and declares that accounts are on record of 

 otters, dogs, mules, oxen, and even horses being 

 similarly attacked. He also tells the story of a 

 heavy pike captured on a night line which had to 

 be opened to get at the hook. The latter was 

 found to be imbedded in a smaller, but still large 

 pike, which had been swallowed by the other. 

 This, too, was opened, when a third, and still 

 smaller one, the original taker of the bait, was dis- 

 covered, already partially digested in the stomach 

 of the second. 



Sometimes, in parts of England, a line to which 

 a bait for pike has been attached, is fastened to the 

 wings of a goose, and when a large fish swallows 

 the lure as the goose swims over the water, an 

 amusing duel occurs, in which, however, the pike 

 is worsted, unless it succeeds in getting away. 



When taken out of cold water, and stuffed and 

 baked, the flesh of the pike is not to be despised, 



4 8 



