54 ANGLING. 



favourable opinions of either tie kindly dispositions, or gas- 

 tronomic excellencies of the fish. He holds hirn forth in a poetic 

 strain under the name of Lucius. 



" Lucius obsourus ulva lacunas 

 Obsidet. His nullos mensarum lectus ad usits, 

 Fumat fumosis olido nidore popinis." 



(< The wary luce 'midst wreck and rushes hid, 

 The scourge and terror of the scaly brood ; 

 ' ' 



The scourge and terror of the scaly brood ; 

 Ihikijown'at friendship's hospitable board, 

 Smokes 'midst the smoky tavern's coarsest 



ky tavern's coarsest food." 



The pike has uniformly acquired the reputation for extraordinary 

 and shark-like voracity. Anecdotes illustrative of this peculiarity, 

 are detailed by numerous authors ; and indeed everybody at all 

 familiar with the habits and practices of this fine fish, must have 

 witnessed some remarkable proof of the accuracy of the general 

 opinion. The author of British Fish and Fisheries, says, " Shrouded 

 from observation in his solitary retreat, he follows with his eye the 

 motions of the shades of fish that wander heedlessly along ; he 

 marks the water-rat swimming to his burrow the ducklings 

 paddling among f 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." 



A few years ago, in a preserve in Lincolnshire, a large pike was 

 seen to snap at a swallow, as it poised lightly over the water in 

 search of flies ; and a friend of ours, once took seven or eight 

 right good fish out of a pool at the tail of a lock, not far from the 

 Earl of Winchelsea's seat in that county, with a few pieces of 

 uncooked bacon. He went to the spot a well-known resort for 

 pike in those days unprovided with bait; and, on his arrival, 

 owing to the extreme clearness of the water, and the coldness of 

 the day, he was unable to procure any with his cast-net. The 

 lock-keeper urged him to try a lump of his bacon. In despair of 

 getting any better bait, and unwilling to leave a favourite spot 

 without a trial, he adopted the suggestion, and in a very short 

 time, despoiled the pool of its occupants, consisting of seven or 

 eight respectable fish. 



Hundreds of stories of a similar kind are commonly related, and 

 may be found in ordinary fishing-books ; but notwithstanding the 

 numerous undoubted instances of his remarkable and fearless 

 voracity, we have always found the pike a very dainty fish, and 

 very difficult to catch in those preserves and pet-waters where 

 small silvery roach are very numerous. He can, in such situations, 



Erocure a delicate and plentiful repast whenever he wants one ; 

 )r, greedy as he is, he does not, like the human glutton, eat for 

 mere eating's sake. The one eats to live, the other lives but to 



