CHAP. VIII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER* 



221 



snakes in some old dunghill, or a like hot place : but 

 the water-snake, which is not venomous, and as I have 

 been assured by a great observer of such secrets, does 

 not hatch, but breed her young alive ; which she does 

 not then forsake, but bides with them; and in case of dan- 

 ger, will take them all into her mouth, and swim 

 away from any apprehended danger, and then let them 

 out again when she thinks all danger to be past : these 

 be accidents that we, Anglers, sometimes see, and often 

 talk of. 



But whither am I going? I had almost lost myself, 

 by remembering the discourse of Dubravius. I will 

 therefore stop here ; and tell you, accordingly to my 

 promise, how to catch this 



His feeding is, usually, of fish or frogs : and, some- 

 times, a weed of his own called pickerel- weed, of 

 which, I told you, some think some Pikes are bred ; for 

 they have observed, that, where none have been put into 

 ponds, yet they have there found Many ; and that 

 there Jias been plenty of that weed in those ponds, 

 and [they think] that that weed both breeds and feeds 

 them : but whether those Pikes, so bred, will ever breed 

 by generation as the others do, I shall leave to the dis- 

 quisitions of men of more curiosity and leisure than I 

 profess myself to have. And shall proceed to tell you. 





