CHAF. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 147 



as we are certain tame pigeons do almost every month ; and 

 yet the hawk, a bird of prey, as the Pike is of fish, breeds but 

 once in twelve months. And you are to note, that his time of 

 breeding, or spawning, is usually about the end of February, or 

 somewhat later, in March, as the weather proves colder or 

 warmer, and to note that his manner of breeding is thus : a he 

 and a she Pike will usually go together out of a river into some 

 ditch or creek, and that there the spawner casts her eggs, and 

 the melter hovers over her all that time that she is casting 

 her spawn, but touches her not. 



I might say more of this, but it might be thought curiosity 

 or worse, and shall therefore forbear it, and take up so much 

 of your attention as to tell you that the best of Pikes are noted 

 to be in rivers ; next, those in great ponds, or meres ; and the 

 worst, in small ponds. 



But before I proceed further, I am to tell you that there is a 

 great antipathy betwixt the Pike and some frogs : and this 

 may appear to the reader of Dubravius, a Bishop in Bohemia, 

 who, in his book "Of Fish and Fish-Ponds," relates what he 

 says he saw with his own eyes, and could not forbear to tell 

 the reader. Which was : 



"As he and the Bishop Thurzo were walking by a large pond 

 in Bohemia, they saw a Frog, when the Pike lay very sleepily 

 and quiet by the shore-side, leap upon his head ; and the Frog 

 having expressed malice or anger by his swollen cheeks and 

 staring eyes, did stretch out his legs and embrace the Pike's 

 head, and presently reached them to his eyes, tearing with 

 them and his teeth those tender parts : the Pike, moved with 

 anguish, moves up and down the water, and rubs himself 

 against weeds, and whatever he thought might quit him of 

 his enemy : but all in vain, for the Frog did continue to ride 

 triumphantly, and to bite and torment the Pike, till his strength 

 failed : and then the Frog sunk with the Pike to the bottom of 

 the water : then presently the Frog appeared again at the top 



