188 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. Cll. XXXII. 



salmon rivers and beautiful lakes, full to over- 

 flowing of trout and pike. It is a fallacy to suppose 

 that pike are at all detrimental to the sport of the 

 fly-fisher — at least, in a Highland lake, where there 

 is depth and space enough for both trout and pike to 

 live and flourish in. Of course, pike kill thousands 

 and tens of thousands of small trout. But the prin- 

 cipal thing to be regretted in almost all Highland 

 lakes is that there are far too many trout in them, 

 and that the fly-fisher may work for a month without 

 killing a trout of two pounds weight. Pike keep 

 down this overstock, and yet still leave plenty of trout, 

 which are of a better size and quality than where they 

 are not thinned. I have invariably found that this 

 is the case, and that I could kill a greater iceight of 

 trout in a loch where there are pike, than where 

 they had not these their natural enemies to keep 

 down the undue increase in their numbers. Pike, 

 too, are by no means exclusively piscivorous ; they 

 are as omnivorous as a pig or an alderman. A great 

 part of the food of a pike consists of frogs, leeches, 

 weeds, &c. &c. Young wild ducks, water-hens, 

 coots, and even young rats, do not come amiss to 

 him. Like a shark, when hungry, the pike swallows 

 anything and everything which comes within reach 

 of his murderous jaws. 



If the fact could be ascertained, I would back a 



