62 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



of Nature, who is said in the Psalms (PsaL cxlvii., 9), " To 

 feed the young ravens that call upon him." And they be kept 

 alive, and fed by a dew, or worms that breed in their nests, or 

 some other ways that we mortals know not ; and this may be be- 

 lieved of the Fordidge trout, which, as it is said of the stork 

 (Jerem. viii., 7), that "he knows his season," so he knows his 

 times, I think almost his day of coming into that river out of the 

 sea, where he lives, and, it is like, feeds, nine months of the 

 year, and fasts three in the river of Fordidge. And you are to 

 note that those townsmen are very punctual in observing the time 

 of beginning to fish for them ; and boast much that their river 

 affords a trout that exceeds all others. And just so does Sussex 

 boast of several fish ; as namely, a Shelsey cockle, a Chichester 

 lobster, an Arundel mullet, and an Amerly trout. 



And now for some confirmation of the Fordidge trout ; you are 

 to know that this trout is thought to eat nothing in the fresh 

 water ; and it may be the better believed, because it is well 

 known, that swallows and bats and wagtails, which are called 

 half-year birds, and not seen to fly in England for six months in 

 the year, but about Michaelmas leave us for a better climate ;* 

 yet some of them that have been left behind their fellows, have 

 been found many thousands at a time, in hollow trees, or clay 

 caves ; where they have been observed to live and sleep out the 

 whole winter without meat ; and so Albertusf observes, that there 

 is one kind of frog:}: that hath her mouth naturally shut up about 

 the end of August, and that she lives so all the winter : and 

 though it be strange to some, yet it is known to too many among 

 us to be doubted. 



* View Sir Fran. Bacon, Exper. 899. — Walton's own note. 



t Albertus Magnus, a German Dominican monk, a studious man and 

 learned author, made Arclibishop of Ratisbon against liis will, by Alexan- 

 der IV. His devotion to occult sciences got him the name among the vul- 

 gar of being a magician. Among many works, amounting to more than 

 twenty volumes folio, several treatises, " De Secretv* JVaturcB, Mu/ierum," 

 &fc., have been attributed to him, but it is thought falsely. They are of a 

 licentious tendency not seen in his other writings. He died in 1250. 

 Walton is quntinc here, through Topsel, on Serpents (p. ISO), from the 

 treatise De Secretin jYaturcp. — .^m. Ed. 



X See Topsel on Frogs. — Walton's own Not€. 



