[36] Numerous accounts have been given of the voracity of the pike. K——g told me of a very remarkable instance, and one which clearly shows that fish do not always suffer so much torture when hooked as many suppose. He was spinning a gudgeon for pike in the river Stour, near Chilham, having bent on four large hooks, back to back, and a large lip-hook. He was run at by a pike, which he struck, but the line unfortunately breaking, the fish carried off fully four yards of it, together with half a yard of gimp, two large swivels, and a lead. K——g put on fresh tackle and bait. At the very first cast he was run at again, and succeeded in landing the fish, which weighed 12 lbs. To K——g’s great surprise, he observed the lost line, swivel, and lead hanging out of its mouth, while,—apparently not much to the animal’s discomfort,—the bait and hooks quietly reposed in its interior. On turning the gullet inside out, K——g found the bait so uninjured that he again fastened it to his line along with the recovered tackle, and actually caught another pike weighing 4 lbs., and a perch of 2½ lbs., with the very gudgeon that had been in the stomach of the large pike for nearly a quarter of an hour.
Those who are fond of trolling for trout would not find their time thrown away in reading Wheatley’s novel hints on all kinds of spinning baits. His “Rod and Line” is an excellent little book.
[37] There are poulterers who would pare such a spur to diminish the appearance of age. The shorter and blunter the spur, and the smoother the leg, the younger is the bird. Dr. Kitchener, who appears not to have had much luck in stumbling upon well-fed pheasants, avers that they have not the flavour of barn-door fowls if they are cooked before they drop from the single tail feather by which, he says, they should be hung up in the larder; or, rather, he advises that two pheasants should be suspended by one feather until both fall. Birds of full, beautiful plumage gratify the eye more than the palate. It is an indication of age in all sorts of birds. The hens are the tenderest. On the body of birds, immediately under the wing, there is what keepers often call, “the condition vein.” The more fat and yellow that appears, the higher is the condition of the animal. Blow aside the feathers of a snipe; and if the flesh is nearly black the bird wants condition,—it should be white.
[38] On the 7th of July, 1836, his kennel was put up to auction, when three of his setters fetched, severally, seventy-two, sixty, and fifty-six guineas. Two puppies brought fifteen guineas each,—and two of his retrievers, “Bess” and “Diver,” forty-six and forty-two guineas.
[39] Entitled, “Field Sports in the United States and British Provinces, by Frank Forester.”
[40] A rule to be followed whenever you employ relays of braces.
[41] That price was named in the Table of Contents of the first edition.
[42] It is admitted, however, that they are often difficult animals to manage; for the least hastiness on the part of the instructor may create a distrust that he will find it very hard to remove.
[43] The first day for killing blackcock.
[44] If painted white it will be the more readily seen and trodden on,—a step advisable preparatory to seizing it, or an ungloved hand may suffer should the dog be ranging rapidly.