84 FLY-FISHING FOR PIKE. 



really a work of high art, and could not possibly 

 be distinguished, lying in a bed of dried rushes, 

 from a real fish. The skin was afterwards stuffed 

 by the same taxidermist, and is now honoured by 

 a place in Mr Buckland's museum at South Ken- 

 sington. The skin was, however, much shrunk by 

 the heat of the plaster, and a very inadequate 

 notion of the original dimensions can be obtained 

 from the stuffed specimen. Mr Buckland, in his 

 notice of the fish in " Land and Water," says : 

 " The pike arrived by the limited mail in perfect 

 condition. She is one of the handsomest fish I 

 ever saw. The tiger-like, dark chocolate markings 

 are beautifully seen. She is full of roe, the total 

 weight of which is twenty-one ounces. By weigh- 

 ing a series of separate grains, and averaging the 

 result, I find the total number of eggs in this one 

 fish is 292,320." 



FLY-FISHING. 



Fly-fishing for pike sounds somehow like a con- 

 tradiction in terms. Flies for jack seem something 

 like Mr Bumble's cheese for the sick pauper, or 

 the economical Lady Bountiful's Soyer-soup at 

 three farthings a quart. We have, however, taken 

 jack under a pound weight, certainly, but still 

 jack both with the May-fly and the March brown. 



