184 FEDERATION PIKE. 
CHAPTER XYIII. 
FEDEKATION PIKE. 
Esox Tredecem Badiatus. — ^This fish, simply so called 
because it has no name among fishermen and sportsmen, 
is almost unknown to naturalists. Dr. De Kay doubts 
its existence, and it is described alone by Dr. Mitchill. 
I take, therefore, much pleasure in adding my testimony, 
so far as it goes, to its existence, although after all it 
may be merely a northern or common pickerel so altered 
by a change of food and water as not to be recognizable. 
There were a large number taken in the Little Herring 
Pond, on Cape Cod near Agawam, and the secret of 
their existence being kept for years, we had excellent 
sport before the natives found it out, and w^ith their 
spears and guns, fishing through the ice and killing them 
on the spawning-beds put a termination to their existence. 
A few may remain, and thus determine the question. 
We caught large numbers, taking them of ten pounds' 
weight, and readily killing in a few hours a hundred and 
twenty-five j)Ounds. The fish were peculiarly beautiful 
in appearance, so much so that I made a rough outline 
which is now before me, and marked in the colors for 
the purpose of painting the picture of one. I afterward 
found the undertaking difiicult, on account of the dissi- 
milarities of the common pickerel, which I purchased in 
