And it is observed, that the Pike will eat venomous things, as some kind
of frogs are, and yet live without being harmed by them; for, as some
say, he has in him a natural balsam, or antidote against all poison. And
he has a strange heat, that though it appear to us to be cold, can yet
digest or put over any fish-flesh, by degrees, without being sick. And
others observe, that he never eats the venomous frog till he have first
killed her, and then as ducks are observed to do to frogs in spawning-
time, at which time some frogs are observed to be venomous, so
thoroughly washed her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, that
he may devour her without danger. And Gesner affirms, that a Polonian
gentleman did faithfully assure him, he had seen two young geese at
one time in the belly of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike in his height of
hunger will bite at and devour a dog that swims in a pond; and there
have been examples of it, or the like; for as I told you, " The belly has
no ears when hunger comes upon it "
The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, melancholy, and a bold fish;
melancholy, because he always swims or rests himself alone, and never
swims in shoals or with company, as Roach and Dace, and most other
fish do: and bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of
anybody, as the Trout and Chub, and all other fish do.
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