DUDGEON. 



CHAPTER XV. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE GUDGEON, THE RUFFE, AND 

 THE BLEAK; AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM. 



Pise. The Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, 

 and to be very wholesome : he is of a fine shape, of a silver 

 colour, 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 Germans 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 a most excellent fish to enter a young 

 angler, being easy to be taken with a small red worm, on 

 or near to the ground. He is one of those leather-mouthed 

 fish that has his teeth in his throat, and will hardly be lost 

 off from 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 and rot, and the weather 

 colder, then they gather together and get into the deep 





