28 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



and amphipods, small crustaceans very common in the brook in 

 which the fish were found. At Umbagog Lake many yoimg pickerel 

 ranging from 2 to 4 inches long were found to be feeding exclusively 

 upon Entomostraca and insect larvse. 



Of eight examples, from 4.25 to 6.37 inches in length, caught at the 

 same time and in the same place, six contained fishes, four of which 

 were young pickerel. Of another lot a 4.25-inch fish had also a 

 young pickerel 3 inches long in its alimentary tract; one 5.37 inches 

 long also contained a pickerel 3 inches long; another 5.87 inches 

 long, besides other thmgs, had a pickerel 2.06 inches in length in its 

 stomach; still another 5.62 inches in length contained two small 

 minnows; one 6.37 inches long had in its stomach one pickerel 3. 

 inches long and one shiner 2.5 inches in length; and another 7.5 

 inches long contained a 1.5 inch hornpout. Other instances were 

 those in which one 7.5 inches long contained the head of a small 

 chub and one 9^ inches long had a 2.3 inch pickerel in its stomach. 



The foregoing suggests a camiibalistic tendency even in very 

 young fish, which is maintained throughout life owing to the pre- 

 viously mentioned fact that, when feeding, the pickerel will attack 

 any accessible moving object. Pickerel, however, are not always 

 fseding, and apparently go without feeding for periods of days, or at 

 least, during the time in such periods as they are under observation. 

 Probably, its hunger having been satisfied, like many other fishes, it 

 refrains from eating for a considerable period. When it takes its 

 food it does so with a rush, and if the food is a fish the pickerel 

 grasps it crosswise, then stops and works its victim around so that 

 it is swallowed head first. 



Breeding. — The breeding places of the pickerel are shallow coves, 

 mouths of inlets, approaches to outlets, and sometimes in over- 

 flowed areas, in water from 3 to 10 feet deep, but not always in 

 the same places each year. Sometimes the eggs are deposited 

 among the roots of submerged tree stumps, the branches of fallen 

 trees or bushes, water plants, and occasionally on gravel or in 

 the crevices among rocks. Here, according to Tomlin (1892a), 

 the fish are found in pairs, gently swimming to and fro, rubbing 

 side by side mi til the female is ready to spawn. Similar to the perch, 

 the eggs are laid in glutinous strings of a yellowish-white color, 

 which often form large masses and have been seen clinging to sub- 

 merged bushes in great mats or long strings. Strings of pickerel 

 eggs observed by the collector of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission 

 (1907) were said to average from 2 to 9 feet in length. Most pub- 

 fished statements regarding the spawoiing time of pickerel are rather 

 indefinite, as in "winter and spring." It is quite possible that 

 southward it does spaWn in late winter. However, the report of a 

 commissioner of Massachusetts (1870) stated that Mr. Stone found 



