144 BRITISH FRESHWATER FISHES 



there are pools where they can find shelter ; but 

 they only grow large where they have plenty of 

 room and food in abundance. 



The Pike leads a solitary life and often seems to 

 select a pool or a stretch of quiet water which he 

 regards as his domain for the season, and from 

 which he never wanders far. On warm days in 

 the summer he may often be seen lying motionless, 

 basking at the top of the water and resembling a 

 log of wood, or he may lurk within the shelter of 

 a clump of lilies or a bed of reeds, from which 

 concealment he may suddenly dash out to seize 

 his prey. Often the Pike is not hungry, and takes 

 no heed of the little fish which sport round him, 

 unconscious of their peril ; but he makes up for 

 these " off days " when he is really on the feed, 

 which in my experience is especially when a good 

 westerly breeze is blowing. At such times he goes 

 in pursuit of the shoals of Roach, Dace, Gudgeon, 

 etc., and everything that comes in his way is 

 welcome, whether it be a member of his own or 

 another species of fish, a frog, a water-rat, a moor- 

 hen, or a duck. Some writers have computed that 

 a Pike will consume in one day his own weight of 

 food, so insatiable is his appetite and so rapid his 

 digestion. 



Fish are, of course, his normal diet, and these he 

 seizes crossw^ise and then swallows them head first. 

 I well remember fishing with my father on the Stour, 

 near Stalbridge, and hearing a considerable splashing 

 a little way off; we ran to the spot and saw an 

 enormous Pike, carrying a fish crosswise in his 

 mouth, swimming round and round in a circle at 

 the top of the water quite close to the bank on 



