28 THE PIKES: IJISTKIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



and amphipods, small crustaceans very common in the brook in 

 which the fish were found. At Umbagog Lake many young pickerel 

 ranging from 2 to 4 mches long were found to be feeding exclusively 

 upon Entomostraca and insect larvae. 



Of eight examples, from 4.25 to 6.37 inches in length, caught at the 

 same time and in the same place, six contained fishes, four of which 

 were young pickerel. Of another lot a 4.25-inch fish had also a 

 young pickerel 3 mches long in its alimentary tract; one 5.37 mches 

 long also contained a pickerel 3 inches long; another 5.87 inches 

 long, besides other things, had a pickerel 2.06 inches in length in its 

 stomach; still another 5.62 inches in length contained two small 

 minnows; one 6.37 inches long had in its stomach one pickerel 3 

 inches long and one shiner 2.5 inches in length; and another 7.5 

 inches long contamed a 1.5 inch hornpout. Other instances were 

 those in which one 7.5 inches long contauied the head of a small 

 chub and one 9^ inches long had a 2.3 inch pickerel m its stomach. 



The foregoing suggests a cannibalistic tendency even in very 

 young fish, which is maintained throughout life owing to the pre- 

 viously mentioned fact that, when feeding, the pickerel wiU attack 

 any accessible movmg object. Pickerel, however, are not always 

 faeding, and apparently go without feeding for periods of days, or at 

 least, during the time in such periods as they are under observation. 

 Probably, its hunger having been satisfied, like many other fishes, it 

 refrains from eating for a considerable period. When it takes its 

 food it does so with a rush, and if the food is a fish the pickerel 

 grasps it crosswise, then stops and works its victim around so that 

 it is swallowed head first. 



Breeding. — The breeding places of the pickerel are shallow coves, 

 mouths of inlets, approaches to outlets, and sometimes in over- 

 flowed areas, in water from 3 to 10 feet deep, but not always in 

 the same places each year. Sometimes the eggs are deposited 

 among the roots of submerged tree stumps, the branches of fallen 

 trees or bushes, water plants, and occasionally on gravel or in. 

 the crevices among rocks. Here, according to Tomlin (1892a), 

 the fish are found in pairs, gently swimming to and fro, rubbing 

 side by side until the female is ready to spawn. Similar to the perch, 

 the eggs are laid in glutmous strings of a yellowish-white color, 

 which often form large masses and have been seen clinging to sub- 

 merged bushes in great mats or long strings. Strings of pickerel 

 eggs observed by the collector of the Pennsylvania Fish Conunission 

 (1907) were said to average from 2 to 9 feet in length. Most pub- 

 lished statements regarding the spawning time of pickerel are rather 

 indefuiite, as in "whiter and spring." It is quite possible that 

 southward it does spawn in late winter. However, the report of a 

 commissioner of Massachusetts (1870) stated that Mr. Stone found 



