THE FOURTH DAY. 



CHAP XV '.Observations of the GUDGEON, the RUFFE, and the 

 BLEAK, and how to fish for them. 



T 



PlSCATOR. 



HE GUDGEON is reputed a fish of excellent taste, and to be 

 very wholesome : he is of a fine shape, of a silver color, 



and beautified with black spots both on his body and tail. He 

 breeds two or three times in the year, and always in summer. 

 He is commended for a fish of excellent nourishment : the Ger- 

 mans call him Groundling, by reason of his feeding on the 

 ground ; and he there feasts himself in sharp streams, and on 

 the gravel. He and the Barbel both feed so, and do not hunt 

 for flies at any time, as most other fishes do : he is an excellent 

 fish to enter a young Angler, being easy to be taken with a 

 small red -worm, on or very near to the ground. He is one of 

 those leather-mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, and 

 will hardly be lost from off the hook if he be once strucken. They 

 be usually scattered up and down every river in the shallows, 

 in the heat of summer ; but in autumn, when the weeds begin 

 to grow sour or rot, and the weather colder, then they gather 



