76 TENDERNESS OF ITS GUMS. 



foretell when the fish is, as the saying goes, i taget, or in 

 taking humour. But the periods in question are not sup- 

 posed to occur at the same time every year ; and it is said to 

 have been noticed that they are dependent on the termi- 

 nation of the spawning season ; for in the particular change 

 of the moon, whether new or full, in which this ceases, in 

 that same change the pike will not taga svalg, or gorge 

 the bait. To this rule, however, the Rot-mdnad * nearly 

 answering in point of time to our "dog-days" is an 

 exception, for he is then at all times i taget. The cause 

 of these periodical fits of abstinence in the pike are ascribed 

 to the circumstance of its gums then becoming so swollen, 

 that the teeth hardly protrude beyond them, and conse- 

 quently the tenderness of his mouth places bounds to . his 

 usual rapacity. 



Another singularity in this fish is, according to Ekstrom, 

 that even when he has swallowed his prey, he, by the simple 

 construction of his stomach, can disgorge it at pleasure, a 

 fact with which every one may not be acquainted. 



That the pike is a very voracious fish every one knows, 

 but that he should carry his gluttonous propensities to the 

 extent described by my friend, M. Wsern, is perhaps new 

 to readers in general. 



" I have kept pike and trout," that gentleman tells us, 

 " in a pond that was supplied with running water. The 

 pike for the most part remained stationary, but the trout, on 

 the contrary, were in constant motion. On a particular 

 occasion, I saw a pike of from seven to eight pounds weight 



* Literally the month of decay or rottenness ; so-called, probably, in conse- 

 quence of the intense heat producing epidemics, destroying provisions, &c. 



