THE PIKE 173 
Year. Date. Weight. Place. Mode of Capture. Captor. 
1890 Feb, 1 202 lb. | Hayward Wide- Snap-tackle Mr. B. Preece. 
water 
1891 Dec. 17 193 lb. | Hayward Wide- a Mr. W. Osborne. 
water 
1892 May 27 264 1b. | Lough Arrow Spinning trout | Mr. Rothwell. 
D Dec. 1 223 lb. | Hayward Wide- Snap-tackle Mr. W. Osborne. 
water 
»> | Not recorded | 33 lb. Lough Mask Not recorded Mr. W. F. Laurie. 
1893 “A 37 lb. Shannon P ie Not recorded. 
= Nov. 13 21% lb. | Hayward Wide- Snap-tackle Mr. I. Evans. 
water 
1894 Jan. 16 25 lb. | Near Maidstone | Live dace snap- | Mr. J. Sheather. 
tackle 
ob April 32 Ib. Lough Conn, Blue Devon Wiis. 15 Wats {C5 
co. Mayo minnow Smith. 
1895 December 21 lb. Barratt’s Pool, Live bait Not recorded. 
Leicestershire 
of a 25 lb. River Dove, Snap-tackle Mr. J. C. Wright. 
Staffordshire 
1896 Feb. 19 20 lb. |Near Chippenham Gut perch Mr. A. Jardine. 
paternoster 
23 Nov. 22 30 lb. | Dagenham Lake,| Not recorded Mr. Waller. 
Essex 
The British pike is found in the northern temperate parts 
of all the three great continents, and is the only species 
_ belonging to the Old World; but in North America 
Distribution. || inhabits the same waters with five other nearly 
allied species, whereof the maskinongé (Esox estor) is the 
largest. Mr. Walter Nursey assures me that the maskinongé 
bears the same relation in culinary value to the common pike 
as the canvas-back does to the domestic duck, which implies a 
high degree of superiority. The name maskinongé is usually 
written ‘‘maskalonge,” or ‘muskelunge,’’ which betrays 
ignorance of its meaning. I am indebted to Mr. Nursey 
for an interpretation of the term. Kenonjai (the 7 is sounded 
as in French) is the Ojibbeway Indian name for the pike ; the 
prefix mas or mis signifies “great,” as in Mississippi, ‘the great 
river.” Maskinonge, therefore, simply means the great pike ; 
which, unlike so many popular names, is a perfectly correct 
description of the creature. 
In Britain the distribution of the pike is sometimes very 
