THE SALMON. 359

It has been known to attack a man when its retreat has been
cut off ; to bite the legs of bathers, and to snap at the fingers
of persons cooling their hands in the water ; and when pressed
with hunger, to fight an otter for the possession of a carp,
which the latter had caught. Its strength and endurance have
often been demonstrated in the destruction of strong tackle and
in its power to survive, without apparent inconvenience with
hooks and wires mingling with its anatomy. Captain Brown
gives an instance of a pike being caught, which had a strong
piece of twisted wire projecting from its side. It was in excel-
lent condition, and on being opened, discovered in its stomach
a double eel hook, much corroded, and attached to the pro-
truding wire. Another pike when caught, in the river Ouse,
was found in possession of a watch with a black ribbon and
seals attached ; property which it was afterwards discovered had
belonged to a gentleman’s servant who had been drowned.
The pike has often been caught with portions of tackle broken
from the line in former engagements hanging from the mouth.
Its rapacity is extraordinary. Eight-hundred gudgeon are said
to have been consumed in three weeks by eight pike of not
more than five pounds weight each. ‘‘ The appetite of one
of my pike,’’ says Mr. Jesse, ‘‘ was almost insatiable. One
morning I threw to him one after the other, five roach, each
about four inches in length. He swallowed four of them, and
kept the fifth in his mouth for about a quarter of an hour,
when it also disappeared.’’ ‘The pike attains to large propor-
tions and to a great age. When less than two pounds weight
it is called a jack, but it has been known to attain to sixty or
seventy pounds weight, and if all records be true, to more than
a hundred years of age. Gesner mentions a pike caught in
standing water at Heilbroon, in Suabia in 1497 which had a
ring round its head with an inscription in Greek which ran
somewhat as follows: ‘‘I am the first fish that was launched
into this pond, and was thrown in by Frederick the Second,
emperor of the Romans, on the fifth of October, 1230.’’ If