OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUCE OR PIKE 



water- Wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring disposition, 

 which is so keen, as Gesner relates, a man going to a pond, 

 where it seems a Pike had devoured all the fish, to water his 

 Mule, had a Pike bit his Mule by the lips ; to which the Pike 

 hung so fast, that the Mule drew him out of the water, and by 

 that accident the owner of the Mule angled out the Pike. And 

 the same Gesner observes, that a Maid in Poland had a Pike bit 

 her by the foot as she was washing clothes in a pond. And 

 I have heard the like of a woman in Killingworth Pond, not far 

 from Coventry. But I have been assured by my friend Mr. 

 Segrave, of whom I spake to you formerly, that keeps tame 

 Otters, that he hath known a Pike in extreme hunger, fight with 

 one of his Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and was 

 then bringing out of the water. I have told you who relate these 

 things, and tell you they are persons of credit, and shall con- 

 clude this observation, by telling you what a wise man has 

 observed ; ' It is a hard thing to persuade the belly, because it 

 has no ears.' 



But if these relations be disbelieved, it is too evident to be 

 doubted, that a Pike will devour a fish of his own kind, that shall 

 be bigger than his belly or throat will receive, and swallow a 

 part of him, and let the other part remain in his mouth till the 

 swallowed part be digested, and then swallow that other part 

 that was in his mouth, and so put it over by degrees ; which is 

 not unlike the Ox and some other beasts, taking their meat, not 

 out of their mouth immediately into their belly, but first into 

 some place betwixt, and then chew it, or digest it by degrees 

 after, which is called Chewing the Cud. And doubtless Pikes 

 will bite when they are not hungry, but as some think even for 

 very anger, when a tempting bait comes near to them. 



And it is observed, that the Pike will eat venomous things, 

 as some kind of Frogs are, and yet live without being harmed 

 by them : for as some say, he has in him a natural balsam, or 

 antidote against all poison: and he has a strange heat, that 

 though it appear to us to be cold, can yet digest, or put over, 

 any fish -flesh by degrees without being sick. And others 

 observe, that he never eats the venomous Frog till he have first 

 killed her, and then, as Ducks are observed to do to Frogs in 

 spawning-time, at which time some Frogs are observed to be 



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