DEADLY COMBAT. 79 



to dive to the bottom, bearing his feathered antagonist on his 

 back, and neither the one nor the other of them were ever 

 more seen by the reverend gentleman. 



Magnus, the Trollhattan fisherman, was a witness, he him- 

 self assured me, to a similar scene. 



An Osprey had pounced upon an enormous pike, which 

 from its great weight it was unable to bear aloft, and from 

 which it was unable to extricate its talons. At times both 

 the fish and the bird struggled together on the surface ; 

 whilst at others the pike fairly carried the osprey under 

 water, the bird, on its reappearance, uttering the most 

 plaintive cries. Being in a boat, and provided with a fish- 

 spear, he lost no time in giving chase, in the hope of cap- 

 turing one or both ; but before reaching the spot the pike, 

 to his great disappointment, so completely gained the upper 

 hand, as to carry the osprey with him bodily under water. 



On the occasion of these conflicts, it however at times 

 happens that the strength of the belligerents is so equally 

 matched, that neither party can claim the victory, and the 

 battle ends by the death of both. 



" An inlet, called Morviken, of Norra Dalsjon, in the pro- 

 vince of Helsingland," so we lately read in the public journals, 

 " was recently the theatre of the following occurrence : 



" The most powerful plunderer of the air, the eagle, pounced 

 upon the most powerful plunderer of the water, the pike. 

 The former, however, had so badly calculated his strength, 

 that the attempt was a failure. The fish was stronger 

 than the bird, so that the latter was near being drawn 

 under water, and of becoming himself a poor prisoner in 

 the liquid kingdom of the fishes. He was neither able to 

 fly away with the heavy pike, nor to release himself, his 



