THE BIG PIKE OF BARN MERE. 13 



cleaned, the other half of the eel, partly digested, 

 was inside it ; the eel would have exceeded 3 Ibs. 

 weight when alive, and yet this pike (of about 

 9 Ibs.) took my roach-bait ravenously. 



Bowlker, in his Art of Angling, p. 9, gives the 

 following instance of the exceeding voracity of 

 these fish : " My father catched a pike in Barn 

 Mere, Cheshire ; it was an ell long, and weighed 

 35 Ibs., which he brought to Lord Cholmondeley ; 

 his lordship ordered it to be turned into a canal in 

 the garden, wherein were abundance of several 

 sorts of fish. About twelve months after, the water 

 was drawn off, and it was found that this over- 

 grown pike had devoured all the fish except one 

 large carp that weighed 9 or 10 Ibs., that was 

 bitten in several places. The pike was then put 

 into the canal again, together with abundance of 

 fish for it to feed upon, all of which it devoured in 

 less than a year's time ; and it was observed by 

 the gardener and workmen there to take the ducks 

 and other water-fowl ; whereupon they shot mag- 

 pies and crows, and threw them into the canal, 

 which the pike took before their eyes. Of this 

 they acquainted their lord, who thereupon ordered 

 the slaughterman to fling in calves' bellies, chickens' 

 guts, and such-like garbage to the pike to prey 

 upon ; and, being soon after neglected, it died, as 

 supposed, for want of food." 



The following was inserted in one of the London 

 papers, January 2nd, 1765 : "Extract of a letter 

 from Littleport, December i/th. About ten days 

 ago a large pike was caught in the river Ouse, 

 which weighed upwards of 28 Ibs., and was sold to 

 a gentleman in the neighbourhood for a guinea. 

 As the cook-maid was gutting the fish, she found a 



