276 
NATURAL HISTORY 
green, spotted with bright yellow, and the gills are of a 
most vived red; out of season the green assumes a gray 
appearance, and the yellow spots turn pale. The dorsal 
fin is placed low on the back. 
The pike has been poetically styled the tyrant of the 
watery plain; and, in fact, in proportion to his strength 
and celerity, he is the most active and voracious of the 
fresh water fish. He will attack every fish less than him- 
self, and is sometimes seen choaked by attempting to 
swallow such as are two large a morsel. It is immaterial 
of what species the animal it pursues appears to be, whe- 
ther of another or its own; all are indiscriminately de- 
voured; so that every fish owes its safety to its minuteness, 
its celerity, or its courage: nor does the pike confine it- 
self to feed on fish and frogs, it will draw down the 
water-rats and the young ducks as they are swimming 
about. 
These fish afford the angler good sport, being bold 
biters. For trolling, the rod should be twelve or four- 
teen feet long. The best baits are gudgeons or dace of 
a middling size: the bait should never be thrown too far. 
Pike are to be allured by a large bait, but a small one is 
more certain to take them. 
Herring. ( Clupea . PL 48.) The common herring 
is distinguished from the other fish of the same 
tribe, by the projection of the lower jaw, which is 
curved, and by having seventeen rays in the ventral 
fin. The head and mouth are small, the tongue short, 
pointed, and armed with teeth; the covers of the gills 
generally have a violet or red spot, that disappears soon 
after the death of the fish, which survives a very short 
time, when taken out of its natural element. 
The principal of the British herring fisheries are 
off the Scotch and Norfolk coasts; and the fishing 
is always carried on by nets stretched in the water, one 
side of which is kept from sinking, by means of the buoys 
fixed to them at proper distances; and, as the weight of the 
net makes the side sink to which no buoys are fixed, it is 
suffered to hang in a perpendicular position like a screen: 
and the fish, when they endeavour to pass through it, 
