SPINOUS FISHES. 



659 



tinctured of the peculiar colour of the stream; 

 the bait must be formed with the nicest art, 

 and even, if possible, to exceed the perfection 

 of nature : yel still the fishes approach it with 

 diffidence, and often swim round it with dis- 

 dain. The cod, on the banks of Newfound- 

 land, the instant the hook, which is only bait- 

 ed with the guts of the animal last taken, is 

 dropped into the water, darts to it at once, 

 and the fishermen have but to pull up as fast 

 as they throw down. But it is otherwise with 

 those who fish in fresh waters, they must wait 

 whole hours in fruitless expectation: and the 

 patience of a fisherman is proverbial among us. 



This comparative neglect of food, which is 

 found in all the tribes of fresh-water fishes, 

 renders them less turbulent and less destruc 

 tive among each other. Of all these the pike 

 is the most active and voracious; and our 

 poets, whose business it is to observe the sur- 

 face of nature, have called it the tyrant of the 

 watery plain. In fact, in proportion to its 

 strength and celerity, the pike does some mis- 

 chief; but what are its efforts compared to 

 those of the cachalot or the shark! they re- 

 semble the petty depredations of a robber, 

 put in competition with the ravages of a con- 

 queror! However, the pike will attack every 

 fish less than itself; and it is sometimes seen 

 choaked, by attempting to swallow such as 

 are too large a morsel. It is immaterial of 

 what species the animal it pursues appears 

 to be, whether of another or its own, all are 

 indiscriminately devoured ; so that every fish 

 owes its safety to its minuteness, its celerity, 

 or its courage: nor does the pike confine it- 

 self to feed on fish and frogs; it will draw 

 down the water-rat and the young ducks, as 

 they are swimming about. Gesner tells us 

 of a mule that stooped to drink in the water, 

 when a famished pike, that was near, seized 

 it by the nose, nor was it disengaged till the 

 beast flung it on shore. So great is their ra- 

 pacity, that they will contend with the otter 

 for his prey, and even endeavour to force it 

 from him. For this reason it is dreaded by 

 all other fish; and the small ones show the 

 same uneasiness and detestation at the pre- 

 sence of their tyrant, as the little birds do at 

 the sight of a ha\vk or an owl. When the 

 pike lies asleep near the surface, as is fre- 

 quently the case, the lesser fish are often ob- 



NO. fc & 56. 



served to swim around it in vast numbers, with 

 a mixture of caution and terror. 



The other tribes of fresh-water fish are 

 much inferior to this animal in courage and 

 rapacity : they chiefly subsist upon worms 

 and insects, pursuing them at the bottom, or 

 jumping after them to the surface of the wa- 

 ter. In winter also, their appetite seems en- 

 tirely to forsake them; at least they con- 

 tinue in so torpid a state, that few baits will 

 tempt them to their destruction. At that sea- 

 son, they forsake the shallow waters, and seek 

 those deep holes to be found in every river, 

 where they continue for days together, with- 

 out ever appearing to move. The cold seems 

 to affect them ; for at that time they lie close 

 to the bottom, where the water is most warm, 

 and seldom venture out, except the day be 

 peculiarly fine, and the shallows at the edges 

 of the stream become tepified by the power- 

 ful rays of the sun. Indeed, I have been as- 

 sured, that some fishes may be rendered so 

 torpid by the cold, in the northern rivers, as 

 to be frozen up in the great masses of ice, in 

 which they continue for several months toge- 

 ther, seemingly without life or sensation, the 

 prisoners of congelation, and waiting the ap- 

 proach of a warmer sun, to restore them at 

 once to life and liberty. Thus that cheerful 

 luminary not only distributes health and ve- 

 getation to the productions of the earth, but 

 is ardently sought even by the gelid inhabi- 

 tants of the water. 



As fish are enemies one to another, so each 

 species is infested with worms of different 

 kinds, peculiar to itself. The great fish 

 abound with them; and the little ones are 

 not entirely free. These troublesome vermin 

 lodge themselves either in the jaws and the 

 intestines internally, or near the fins without. 

 When fish are healthy and fat, they are not 

 much annoyed by them; but in winter, when 

 they are lean or sickly, they then suffer very 

 much. 



Nor does the reputed longevity of this class 

 secure them from their peculiar disorders. 

 They are not only affected by too much cold, 

 but there are frequently certain dispositions 

 of the element in which they reside unfavour- 

 able to their health and propagation. Some 

 ponds they will not breed in, however artful- 

 ly disposed for supplying them with fresh 

 5A 



