OF GREAT BRITAIN. 79 



fierce — and that under water too — or whether 

 owing to the hair or scent displeasing them, I know 

 not ; but they do not appear to be very partial to 

 the quadruped." 



Sometimes the Pike lies in ambush, protruding 

 only its eyes and grim muzzle through the weeds, 

 when the movement of seizing a victim is little 

 beyond a quick turn of the body and an opening 

 and shutting of the jaws ; but generally he takes 

 his prey with a rush and a flash, emerging so sud- 

 denly and with such startling energy, that I have, 

 in more than one instance, known a Troller lite- 

 rally drop his rod from the effects of sheer terror. 



Woe to the fish or flesh that gets once fairly 

 enclosed between the jaws of a Pike ! From that 

 more than Regulus-like incarceration it rarely 

 effects its escape. Like the Remora, which will 

 allow itself to be cut to pieces rather than relinquish 

 its hold, the Pike exhibits an extraordinary tenacity 

 of purpose and reluctance to quit its grasp of a 

 prey once seized. 



A Pike will even constantly make a considerable 

 fight, and actually allow itself to be dragged many 

 yards by the obstinacy of its hold, without ever 

 having been pricked by a hook — shaking the bait 

 out of its mouth perhaps when almost in the net. 

 I have witnessed the same thing to occur with 

 a cork ball tied to a string and drawn across a 

 stock-pond. 



This mixture of determination and ferocity 



