BULL-HEAD. FATHER-LASHER. 271 



of which is a bright yellow spot. The fins are ornamented 

 with the most lively and diversified colours : the tail is 

 large, forked, and green ; with a curved red line running 

 through the middle, and a large yellow spot on each side 

 of the base. In a word, Nature seems to have exerted 

 her skill to produce a fish that might vie with the most 

 beautiful of the feathered tribes ; but if the parrot-fish 

 may lay claim to external advantages, it has little farther 

 to boast of; for it is in no estimation as an article of 

 food. 



THE BULL-HEAD, OR MILLER* S THUMB. 



This deformed and disgusting little fish is common in 

 our gravelly brooks and rivers, where it lodges under 

 stones or in holes. During the summer, it bites at a red 

 worm, and is so remarkably stupid, that the most unex- 

 perienced angler may catch it without trouble. The head 

 is roundish, large, broad, and depressed ; the mouth 

 wide, and the body about four or five inches long : the 

 back is yellow, with three or four black stripes ; and the 

 belly is whitish. When young, the bull-head forms a 

 most desirable bait for trout. Another species, called the 

 armed bull-head, or pogge, is very common on the British 

 coasts. It is distinguished by having four short upright 

 spines at the extremity of the nose. 



THE FATHER-LASHER. 



The length of this fish seldom exceeds eight or nine 

 inches. It is commonly found on the rocky coasts of our 

 island, lurking under stones. On the shores of Green- 

 land it is so numerous as to constitute a principal resource 

 of food for the natives ; and, when made into soup, is 

 nutritive and wholesome. 



The head, which is very large, has a formidable ap- 

 pearance ; being armed, as it were, with vast spines, by 

 which the creature combats every enemy that attacks it, 

 inflating its cheeks and gill-covers to an extraordinary 

 size. The colour of the body is a dusky brown, marbled 



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