The Pike. 473 
Boulker, in his Art of Angling, says, that his father 
caught a Tike, which he presented to Lord Cholmon- 
deley, that was an ell long, and weighed thirty-six 
pounds. His lordship directed it to be put into a canal 
in his garden, which at that time contained a great 
quantity of fish. Twelve months afterwards the water 
was drawn off, and it was discovered that the Pike had 
devoured all the fish, except a large carp that weighed 
between nine and ten pounds, and even this had been 
bitten in several places. The Pike was again put in, 
and an entire fresh stock of fish for him to feed on : all 
these he devoured in less than a year. Several times he 
was observed by workmen who were standing near, to 
draw ducks and other water-fowl under water. Crows 
were shot and thrown in, which he took' in the presence 
of the men. From this time the slaughtermen had orders 
to feed him with the garbage of the slaughter-house; 
but being afterwards neglected, he died, as is supposed, 
from want of food. 
In December, 1765, a Pike was caught in the river 
Ouse, that weighed upwards of twenty-eight pounds, 
and was sold for a guinea. When it was opened, a watch 
with a black riband and two seals were found in its 
body. These, it was afterwards found, had belonged to 
a gentleman's servant, who had been drowned in the 
river about a month before. 
The Pike is a very long-lived fish. In the year 1497, 
one was caught at Heilbrun, in Swabia, to which was 
affixed a brazen ring, with the following words engraved 
on it in Greek characters : " I am the fish, which was 
first of all put into this lake, by the hands of the gover- 
nor of the universe, Frederick the Secoud, the fifth of 
October, 1230." 
