CHAPTER XV 



Observations of the Gudgeon , the Ruffe ^ and the Eleak^ and 

 how to Fish for them. 



ISC. 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 on his body and tail. He 

 breeds two or three 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 a most excellent fish to enter a young 

 angler, being easy to be taken with a small red-worm, on or 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 deep parts of the water, and 

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



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