PICKEREL. 179 
times they are shot or speared without mercy. In fact, 
the quick eye, ready hand and steady foot required for 
spearing renders it an exciting and reputable sport, 
worthy of, and often unattainable by, the best of us. In 
Winter, pickerel seek the warm, deep water, and are 
caught through a hole in the ice by a live bait on a hand 
line. This is said to be very exciting, provided a rude 
hut is built over the hole, and a fire made in the hut, 
and provided the fisherman, seated in a comfortable chair, 
provided with a book, a segar and a glass of hot punch, 
has an assistant to pull out the fish. It is alleged 
that these fish are, " during the height of the season," 
brilliant and beautiful ; if that is so with any, except the 
Long Island Pickerel and the Federation Pike, the height 
of the season must have been too high for me to reach. 
Tlie family of the Esocidce are truly typified by the 
voracious and terrible Esox hiceits^ wolf-fish, the true 
pike, from which they take their name, and include 
among their numbers the formidable Gar-pike, JEsox 
osseus of the Southern waters. Although their flesh is 
hardly fit for the table, they are universally abundant, 
and their capture affords that kind of pleasure always 
derived from taking many and large animals of any 
description. 
The principal species known in this country are : 
The Mascallonge, Esox Estor. 
The IN'oRTHEKN Pickerel, Esox Lucioides, both of 
which inhabit the great rivers and lakes of the IsTorth. 
The Common Pickerel, Esox BeticulatuSj of the mid 
die and northern States. 
The Long Island Pickerel, Esoqi^ Faeciatus, 
