c H AP. x v. ] THE FO UR TH DAY. 171 



lose no time : but tell me somewhat more of fishing ; and if you 

 please, first, something of fishing for a Gudgeon. 



PlSCATOR. I will, honest scholar. 5 



PISCATOR. THE GUDGEON is reputed a fish of excellent 

 taste, and to be very wholesome. He is of a fine shape, of a 

 silver colour, and beautified with black spots both 

 Sl AP ' G*dgeonf on his body and tail. He breeds two or three 

 the Ruffe, and times in the year ; and always in summer. He is 

 commended for a fish of excellent nourishment. The 

 Germans call him Groundling, by reason of his feeding on the 

 ground ; and he there feasts himself, in sharp streams and on the 

 gravel. He and the Barbel both feed so : and do not hunt for 

 flies at any time, as most other fishes do. He is an excellent fish 

 to enter a young angler, being easy to be taken with a small red 

 worm, on or very near to the ground. He is one of those 

 leather-mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, and will 

 hardly be lost off from the hook if he be once strucken. 



They be usually scattered up and down every river in the 

 shallows, in the heat of summer : but in autumn, when the weeds 

 begin to grow sour and rot, and the weather colder, then they 

 gather together, and get into the deeper parts of the water ; and 

 are to be fished for there, with your hook always touching the 

 ground, if you fish for him with a float, or with a cork. But 

 many will fish for the Gudgeon by hand, with a running line 

 upon the ground, without a cork, as a Trout is fished for : and it 

 is an excellent way, if you have a gentle rod, and as gentle a 

 hand.* 



There is also another fish called a POPE, and by some a RUFFE ; 

 a fish that is not known to be in some rivers : he is much like 

 the Perch for his shape, and taken to be better than the Perch, but 

 will not grow to be bigger than a Gudgeon. He is an excellent 

 fish ; no fish that swims is of a pleasanter taste. And he is also 

 excellent to enter a young angler, for he is a greedy biter: and they 

 will usually lie, abundance of them together, in one reserved place, 



VARIATION. 



5 In the first edition, Picator here continues, without beginning a fresh chapter, 

 "The Gudgeon is an excellent fish to eat, and also good to enter a young angler : he is 

 easy to be t;iken with a small red worm at the ground, and is one of those leather- 

 mouthed fish," &c., as in a subsequent part of the text. The alterations in the text were 

 made in the second edition. 



* In fishing for Gudgeons, have a rake ; and every quarter of an hour rake the bottom 

 of the river, and the fish will flock thither in shoals. H. 



Pennant mentions a Gudgeon taken near Uxbridge that weighed half a pound. Zoology, 

 edit. 1776, vol. iii. p. 316. E. 



