THE JACK. 193 



and 50 lbs. occasionally finding record ; while still more 

 occasional monsters of over 70 lbs. have been satisfactorily- 

 vouched for. In England, however, a fish of 20 lbs. to 

 25 lbs. must be considered a "topper." I doubt whether 

 half a dozen of this weight are taken in a year. The 35 lb. 

 fish taken in one of the Windsor Park lakes in the autumn 

 of 1874 well deserved going the round of the papers as 

 the " Monster Pike." Hi3 stuffed skin, and also a cast 

 of him, were exhibited at the Piscatorial Exhibition at the 

 Westminster Aquarium in 1877. An angler in English 

 waters should always be well contented with a 10 lb. fish. 

 Who can describe and do full justice to the voracity 

 and " omnivoracity" of this " solitary, melancholy, and 

 bold fish," as Walton calls him ? It makes one almost 

 shudder even to read how, " shrouded from observation 

 in his solitary retreat, he follows with his eye the shoals 

 of fish that wander heedlessly along ; he marks the water- 

 rat swimming to his burrow, the ducklings paddling among 

 the water-weeds, the dab-chick and the moor-hen swim- 

 ming leisurely on the surface ; he selects his victim, and, 

 like the tiger springing from the jungle, he rushes forth, 

 seldom missing his aim." A long catena of traditions 

 has been handed down on this point and on that of his 

 powers of digestion ; — and such traditions lose nothing by 

 repetition ! Nor need they ; for our simple English jack, 

 in his quiet sort of way, may safely bear a relative com- 

 parison to the shark for his voracity, and to an ostrich 

 for his powers of assimilation. What will he not 

 take is rather the question than what he will. It is said 

 that he declines sticklebacks, though it is well known that 

 unwary pickerels often get choked by them. Perhaps if 

 not choked completely in his infancy, he gets wiser after 



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