CHAPTER XVIII 



OF THE MINNOW OR PENK, OF THE LOACH, AND OF 

 THE BULL-HEAD OR MILLER's-THUMB 



[Jfiftb S>a] 



Pise. There be also three or four other little fish that I 

 had almost forgot, that are all without scales, and may for 

 excellency of meat be compared to any fish of greatest 

 value and largest size. They be usually full of eggs or 

 spawn all the months of summer ; for they breed often, 

 as it is observed mice, and many of the smaller four-footed 

 creatures of the earth do ; and as those, so these, come 

 quickly to their full growth and perfection. And it is 

 needful that they breed both often and numerously, for 

 they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both a prey and 

 baits for other fish. And first, I shall tell you of the 

 Minnow or Penk. 



The minnow hath, when he is in perfect season, and 

 not sick, which is only presently after spawning, a kind 

 of dappled or waved colour, like to a panther, on his sides, 

 inclining to a greenish and sky-colour, his belly being 

 milk white, and his back almost black or blackish. He is 

 a sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot weather makes 

 excellent sport for young anglers, or boys, or women that 

 love that recreation, and in the spring they make of them 

 excellent minnow-tansies ; for being washed well in salt, 

 and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts taken out, 

 and not washed after, they prove excellent for that use ; 

 that is, being fried with yolks of eggs, the flowers of cow- 



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