THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 63 



observed to live and sleep out tlie whole winter without 

 meat ; and so Albertus observes, that there is one kind of 

 frog that hath her mouth naturally shut up about the end 

 of August, and that she lives so all the winter : and though 

 it be strange to some, yet it is known to too many among us 

 to be doubted. 



And so much for these Fordidge trouts, which never afford 

 an angler sport, but either live their time of being in the 

 fresh water, by their meat formerly got in the sea (not unlike 

 the swallow or frog), or by the virtue of the fresh water 

 only ; or, as the birds of Paradise and the chamelion are said 

 to live, by the sun and the air. 



There is also in Northumberland a trout called a bull-trout, 

 of a much greater length and bigness than any in the southern 

 parts. And there are, in many rivers that relate to the sea, 

 salmon- trouts, as much different from others, both in shape 

 and in their spots, as we see sheep in some countries differ one 

 from another in their shape and bigness, and in the fineness 

 of their wool. And, certainly, as some pastures breed larger 

 sheep, so do some rivers, by reason of the ground over which 

 they run, breed larger trouts. 



Now the next thing that I will commend to your consi- 

 deration is, that the trout is of a more sudden growth than 

 other fish. Concerning which, you are also to take notice, 

 that he lives not so long as the perch, and divers other fishes 

 do, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his " History of 

 Life and Death." 



And now you are to take notice, that he is not like the 

 crocodile, which if he lives never so long, yet always thrives 

 till his death. And you are to know, that he will about, 

 especially before, the time of his spawning, get almost 

 miraculously through weirs and flood-gates against the 

 streams ; even through such high and swift places as is al- 

 most incredible. Next, that the trout usually spawns about 

 October or November, but in some rivers a little sooner or 

 later : which is the more observable, because most other fish 

 spawn in the spring or summer, when the sun hath warmed 

 both the earth and the water, and made it fit for generation. 

 And you are to note that he continues many months out of 

 season ; for it may be observed of the trout, that he is like 

 the buck or the ox, that he will not be fat in many months, 

 though he go in the very same pasture that horses do, which 

 will be fat in one month : and so you may observe that most 



