bait within a foot of the spot where I have been standing; and the head
keeper of Richmond Park assured me that he was once washing his hand at
the side of a boat in the great pond in that Park, when a pike made a
dart at it, and he had but just time to withdraw it. A gentleman now
residing at Weybridge, in Surrey, informed me that, walking one day by
the side of the river Wey, near that town, he saw a large pike in a
shallow creek. He immediately pulled off his coat, tucked up his shirt
sleeves, and went into the water to intercept the return of the fish to
the river, and to endeavour to throw it upon the bank by getting his
hands under it. During this attempt, the pike, finding he could not make
his escape, seized one of the arms of the gentleman, and lacerated it so
much that the wound is still very visible.

"A friend of mine caught a pike a few minutes after breaking his tackle,
and found it in the pike, a part of the gimp hanging out of his mouth.
He also caught another, in high condition, with a piece of strong
twisted wire projecting from its side. On opening it a double eel-hook
was found at the end of the wire, much corroded. This may account for so
few pike being found dead after they have broken away with a gorge-hook
in them. An account will be found, in 'Salmonia,' of a pike taking a
bait, with a set of hooks in his mouth, which he had just before broken
from a line."

_Affection of Animals._

"Animals are so capable of showing gratitude and affection to those who
have been kind to them, that I never see them subjected to ill treatment
without feeling the utmost abhorrence of those who are inflicting it. I
know many persons who, like myself, take a pleasure in seeing all the
animals about them appear happy and contented. Cows will show their