PIKE, MUSKELLUNGE AND PICKEREL. 



277 



are much smaller. Esox rcticitlaius, is usually kno\\n in the North by tlie 

 name " Pickerel"; in the Southern States it is the "Jack." It is found 

 chiefly in the streams along the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Alabama, 

 and is generally abundant, especially in clear, grassy creeks and ponds. 

 It is not found in the Lake region, nor west of the Alleghanies. It some- 

 times, though rarely,attains the weight of seven or eight pounds, and the 

 length of three or four feet, and is much more slender in form, and grace- 

 ful in motion than the Pike. It is yellow-green or brown in color, with 

 an interlacing network of brown lines, covering the l)ody. Its peculiar 

 markings have given it the name of "Chain Pickerel," and patriotic 

 Americans of early Federal days called it the "Federation Pike," an 

 allusion to the chain of thirteen linked rays, symbolical of the Federal 

 union, which was stamped upon certain copper coins used during the last 

 century. 



Wi^u. 



, ff'ti:'r-'( i- 





THE BROOK PICKEREL. 



Esox americanus, the "Brook Pickerel," or "Banded Pickerel," 

 sometimes also called the " Long Island Pickerel," " Trout Pickerel," and 

 " Pond Pike," is comparatively small, rarely exceeding a foot in length, 

 though occasionally reaching the weight of five to eight pounds. Its color 

 is dark green, with about twenty blackish, lateral, transverse bands, 

 usually curved, often obscure, but never net-like. There is a black line 

 below the eye, and another through the eye and snout. The fins, espe- 

 cially in the breeding season, are bright red. This species occurs in the 

 brooks on the Atlantic side of the Alleghanies, from Florida north to 



INIassachusetts. 



Another diminutive Pike, similar in form and color to the last, is Esox 



venniailatus [Esox cyp/io) whic li is found in the Mississippi valley, 



especially in the small streams and bayous in the South and ^^'cst. I'his 



species is also green, with numerous darker transverse bands or stripes, but 



