THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 133 



by them ; for, as some say, be has in him a natural balsam, or 

 antidote against all poison. And he has a strange heat that, 

 though it appears to us to be cold, can yet digest or put over . 

 any fish-flesh, by degrees, without being sick. And others 

 observe that he never eats the venomous frog till he have first 

 killed her, and then, as ducks are observed to do to frogs in 

 spawning time, at which time some frogs are observed to be 

 venomous, so thoroughly washed her, by tumbling her up and 

 down in the water, that he mav devour her without danger.* 



And Gesner affirms, that a Polonian gentleman did faithfully 

 assure him he had seen two young geese at one time in the belly 

 of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike in his height of hunger will 

 bite at and devour a dog that swims in a pond ; and there have 

 been examples of it, or the like ; for, as I told you, " the belly 

 has no ears when hunger comes upon it." 



The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, melancholy, and 

 a bold fish : melancholy, because he always swims or rests 

 himself alone, and never swims in shoals or with company, as 

 Roach and Dace, and most other fish do : and bold, because he 

 fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of any body, as the 

 Trout, and Chub, and all other fish do. 



And it is observed by Gesner, that the jaw-bones and hearts, 

 and galls of Pikes are very medicinable for several diseases, or 

 to stop blood, to abate fevers, to cure agues, to oppose or expel 

 the infection of the plague, and to be rnanv ways medicinable 

 and useful for the good of mankind :f but he observes, that the 

 biting of a Pike is venomous, and hard to be cured. 



And it is observed, that the Pike is a fish that breeds but 

 once a year ; and that other fish, as, namely, Loaches, do breed 

 oftener : 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. 



* This is obviously quite fanciful. J. R. 



f All this nonsense ha? been long exploded. J. R. 



