ABSTRACT
THe D o g called the Fifher, whereof Heftor Boetitu writeth, which feeketh for Fifh by fmel-ling among rocks and ftones, afluredly I know none of that kind in England, neither have I received by report that there is any fuch, albeit I have been diligent and bufie in demanding the queftion as well of Fifhermen as alfo huntfmen in that behalf, being careful and earneft to learn and underftand of them if any fuch were, except you hold opinion that the Beaver or Ot t e r is a Fifh ( as many have believed) and according to their belief affirmed, as the bird Purine, is thought to be a fifh,and fo accounted. But that kind of D o g which followeth the f ifh to apprehend and take it (if there beany of that difpofi t ionand property) whether they do this thing for the game of hunting, or for the heat of hunger, as other Dogs do which rather then they will be famifhed for want of food, covet the carcafes of carrion and putrified flefh. When I am fully refolved and disburdened of this doubt, I will fend you certificate in writing I n t h e m e a n feafon I am not ignorant of that both MHanm and Aetim, call the Beaver Kunapotamion a water D o g , or a Dog-f i fh , I know likewife thus much more, that the Beaver doth participate this property with the D o g , namely, that when fifhes be fcarce they leave the water and range up and down the land, making an infatiable f laughter of young Lambs untill their paunches be replenished, and when they have fed themfelves full of Flefh, then re turn they to the water f rom whence they came. But albeit fo much be granted that thisBevcr is a Dog , yet it is t o be noted that we reckon it no t in the beadrowof hn^lfh Dogs as we have done the reft. The feaCalfe, in like manner, which our Countrey men for brevity fake call a Seel, other more largely name a Sea Veale, maketh a fpoil of fifhes between rocks and banks, but it is not accounted in the Catalogue or number of our Englifh Dogs,notwithftanding we call it by the name of a Sea-Dog, or a Sea-Calf And thus much for our Dogs of the fecond for t , called in Latin, Aucupatorii, ferving to take fowl either by land or water.
