Habits of the Pike. 303 



malia do not seein to be safe, should they tempt 

 him too far in his native element, for he has been 

 accused of making vigorous assaults upon dogs, 

 oxen, and horses, that happened to come in his 

 way. His " presumption soars " still higher ; for 

 without going back to the days of Gesner for the 

 famous story of the Polish damsel, it would be easy 

 to adduce evidence that pike, when impelled by 

 hunger or rage, do not hesitate to attack the human 

 species, and are no respecters of persons. 



In these circumstances, we cannot but hold it a 

 light matter that, following the example of other 

 members of his tribe, the luce 



" With ravenous waste devours his fellow train," 



and exercises his cannibal propensities upon his 

 nearest relations. Here is one instance out of 

 many of Jack's love for his brother. It was fur- 

 nished to Mr Buckland by Dr Burton, of Kelso, in 

 1880 : " Two pike, the larger 3J lb., the lesser 2J 

 lb., were this day taken with the hand by a lad out 

 of the Tweed at Kelso, the one nearly half-swal- 

 lowed by the other. They were both alive, and 

 when with difficulty separated and put into a water- 

 tub, the larger made two attempts again to gorge 

 his neighbour. The lad who took 'em wondered to 

 see ' a muckle fish wi' twae tails.' " x Mr Buckland 



1 Natural History of British Fishes, p. 160. 



