20 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



it pounces with the speed of an arrow on its unwary victim. It 

 almost always seizes its prey crosswise and retains its hold until the 

 latter is dead or so exhausted as to desist from all struggles. Then 

 the pike turns the prize in its jaws tiU the head points toward the 

 interior of its mouth and commences its meal. This operation is a 

 protracted one when the victim is large, for the end first swallowed 

 and received in the stomach must digest to make room for the remain- 

 der (Smitt, 1892). 



On one occasion a pike of 7 or 8 pounds' weight was seen to dart 

 forward and seize a salmon which was quite as large in its formidable 

 jaws right across the body. The combat was fierce. The salmon 

 leaped out of the water and made desperate but fruitless struggle to 

 shake off its relentless captor. In a couple of hours' time the salmon 

 was utterly exhausted, and the pike began to swaUow it head first. 

 The meal lasted three days before the whole body had disap- 

 peared. The process of digestion must have taken much longer, for 

 all the following week the pike had a very swoUen appearance and 

 could hardly be induced to move by touching it with a long stick 

 (Smitt, 1892). 



The fishermen in general beheve that at certain seasons of the year 

 the pike entirely abstains from food and at others is excessively 

 voracious. These seasons are said to be periodical and regular in 

 occurrence, the observant fisherman being able to predict the time 

 when the pike is "on its feed," as it is called. But these periods are 

 said not to occur at the same time year after year, and according to 

 some observations, they are determined by the spawning season, for 

 the period of voracity begins in the same change of the moon (waxing 

 or wane) as the pike finishes spawning. There is one exception, 

 however, the pike being always "on its feed" throughout the dog 

 days. This periodical voracity and moderation is said to depend on 

 the circumstance that at certain times the points of the teeth hardly 

 project above the flesh, some tenderness of the gums being thus the 

 curb of the pike's usual rapacity. Perhaps we have here some 

 observation on the manner in which the pike casts its teeth or we 

 may find a more probable explanation in the fact that the fish 

 requires some time to digest the great quantity of food which it 

 devours during the period of voracity (Smitt, 1892). 



According to Chambers (1896), in the Lake St. John the fish is so 

 voracious that many of the settlers about the shores fear to bathe in 

 the waters. Both dogs and waterfowl swimming upon the surface 

 have been attacked. 



Forbes (1908) stated that it is purely carnivorous, its food con- 

 sisting of fishes, such as sunfish and black bass. Frogs, crayfish, 

 large water insects, mice, reptiles, and young ducks have been 

 reported by various authors to have been taken from the stomachs 

 of pike. 



