FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



as any royal small-mouthed bass that ever swam.'* 

 I am too loyal a lover of our North country sal- 

 monoids, as represented by the salmon, ouananiche, 

 and trout, to go to Mr. Tomlin's length in praise 

 of pike-fishing, but the courage, resistance, and 

 strength of Esox lucius claim my respect, and when 

 finer fish are beyond my reach, I find plenty of 

 sport in matching my light tackle against his 

 strength and avoirdupois, my ingenuity against 

 his determined struggles, and my chances of a 

 sufficient hook-hold, no lower down than his 

 throat, against the scarcity of flesh in his skinny, 

 bony mouth. 



The rapacity of the pike is well known, and 

 affords the opportunity for the employment by 

 anglers of a large variety of baits. It is a fresh- 

 water shark, a water wolf, and one writer has 

 termed it a mere machine for the assimilation of 

 animal matter. But it by no means confines itself 

 to an animal diet. Mr. H. Cholmondeley Pennell 

 cites as a proof of the omnivorous instinct of this 

 fish, that watches, spoons, and rings have frequently 

 been taken from its craw; while several authors have 

 asserted that it also feeds upon the pickerel weed, — 

 a common species of aquatic plant. No animal, 

 fish, or bird life is safe within its reach, if the 

 living thing can by any possible means be forced 

 44 



