148 BRITISH FRESHWATER FISHES 



this dislike is inspired by gratitude is, to say the 

 least of it, highly improbable. 



Towards the winter the Pike forsake the weedy 

 shallows for deeper water and begin to pair, choosing 

 for mate a fish of nearly the same size, or if either 

 be the larger it is usually the female ; in January I 

 have seen a male and female fish of exactly the 

 same size (5| lbs.) caught one after the other in 

 the same place, and Mr. Pennell says that he has 

 even met with a happy couple quite early in the 

 autumn. In March or April, or sometimes as 

 early as February, they leave the open water and 

 make their way into the ditches and backwaters or 

 on to any quiet shallow, where they spawn among 

 the weeds. The smaller fish spawn first, the larger 

 ones not being ready until later ; sometimes two or 

 three males have been observed in attendance on 

 one female. After breeding they return to the lakes 

 and rivers, but take some time to recover, so that 

 the larger fish are not really in good condition before 

 the autumn. 



The eggs are numerous (Buckland estimated that 

 there were 595,200 in a Pike of 32 lbs.) and usually 

 hatch out in from ten days to three weeks ; in about 

 another fortnight or less the yolk-sac is absorbed, 

 and the fry begin to feed, at first on larvae, insects, 

 shrimps, etc., and soon afterwards on the fry of other 

 fish, growing very rapidly. Many are said to die 

 through attempting to swallow Sticklebacks, which 

 erect their spines and stick in the Pike's throat. 



In the summer I have often walked along the 

 side of the little river at Sherborne, in a place where 

 the current of the stream is separated from the 

 bank by a bed of weeds, which almost reach the 



