OBSERVATIONS OF THE NATURE AND 



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 

 view sir Fran. are ca ^ e ^ half-year birds, and not seen to fly in 

 Bacon, Exper. England for six months in the year, but about 

 Michaelmas leave us for a hotter 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 

 seeTopsei'of Winter without meat; and so Albertus observes, 

 Frogs. 1 t na t 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. 



And so much for these Fordidge Trouts, which never afford 

 an Angler sport, but either live their time of being in the fresh 

 water, by their meat formerly gotten in the sea, not unlike the 

 Swallow or Frog, or by the virtue of the fresh water only ; or 

 as the Bird of Paradise, and the Camelion are said to live by 

 the sun and the air. 



There is also in Northumberland a Trout called a Bull- 

 Trout, of a much greater length and bigness, than any in these 

 Southern parts : and there are in many rivers that relate to the 

 sea, Salmon-Trouts, as much different from others, both in shape 

 and in their spots, as we see sheep in some countries differ one 

 from another in their shape and bigness, and in the fineness of 

 their wool : and certainly, as some pastures breed larger sheep, 

 so do some rivers, by reason of the ground over which they run, 

 breed larger Trouts. 



Now the next thing that I will commend to your considera- 

 tion is, that the Trout is of a more sudden growth than other 

 fish : concerning which you are also to take notice, that he 

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