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Lord Bacon maintained in Ms day, that the utmost 

 limit of the life of a pike was forty years. 



Of the ravenous habits of the fish much has been 

 written. The author of British Fish and Fisheries 

 says : " Shrouded from observation in his solitary 

 retreat, he follows with his eye the motions of the 

 shoals of fish that wander heedlessly along; he 

 marks the water-rat swimming to his burrow, the 

 ducklings paddling among the water-weeds, the 

 dab-chick and the moor-hen leisurely swimming on 

 the surface ; he selects his victim, and, like the 

 tiger springing from the jungle, he rushes forth, 

 seldom indeed missing his aim ; there is a sudden 

 rush, circle after circle forms on the surface of the 

 water, and all is still again in an instant/' 



But though rapacious to a proverb, yet the pike 

 has his own likes and dislikes ; there are tasty bits 

 of food that are said to be keenly relished by him. 

 Among these, writers state the following : A swan's 

 head and shoulders, a mule's lip, a Polish damsel's 

 foot, a gentleman's hand, and a lady's too, when 

 very soft and plump, tender kittens before their eyes 

 open, and the fleshy parts of a calf's head. 



The opinions and practices relative to the pike as 

 an article of food, have been various and conflicting. 

 In some districts of Trance he is viewed with loath- 

 ing, while at Chalons-sur-Saone, he is esteemed one 

 of the first luxuries. In Italy pike are seldom 

 touched, and the Spaniards entirely reject him. In 

 Germany he has a high reputation in many districts. 

 In England, in the thirteenth century, pike was so 



