THE PIKE. 283 



three or four endeavours, the trout began to think we 

 were trying to play him a trick, and with an effort he 

 disgorged the fish and went off. On securing the dead 

 one, to our surprise we found it was a jack of at least 

 2 Ibs., the head and shoulders actually in process of being 

 digested. 



Buckjand gives the following curious circumstance : 



"Mr. Francis Crump of Killin sent me in April 1870 

 a box containing two pike, the two fish weighing together 

 19 Ibs., exactly in the same position as when gaffed by the 

 boatmen on Loch Tay. He says : ' We saw a consider- 

 able commotion in the water, and on approaching to discover 

 the cause, the fish appeared to be fighting, and merely sank 

 a short distance below the surface. The gaff penetrated 

 both their heads. They both lived for some hours after 

 they were in the boat. You will observe that the head 

 of one fish, weighing perhaps 9 Ibs., is tightly inserted up 

 to the termination of its gill and part of the first lower fin 

 in the mouth and throat of the larger one.' In all prob- 

 ability, instead of being fighting, the larger fish had tried 

 to devour the smaller." 



Pike prefer deep pools where there are abundance of 

 aquatic plants, particularly those of the broad-leaved kind ; 

 and although those caught in rivers are the best as to 

 their edible qualities, yet they appear to grow bigger in 

 still waters than in streams. That they do grow to a 

 great size and live to a great age cannot be doubted ; but 

 whether we must believe in the recorded weights and age 

 of former days remains somewhat doubtful. The largest 

 pike of modern times are the two reported from Ireland 

 one taken in August 1830 in the County Clare, said 

 to weigh 78 Ibs., and one taken at Portumna, about 

 18234, said to weigh 92 Ibs. Buckland states that when 

 Whittlesea Mere was drained a pike was found weighing 

 52 Ibs. 



The famous pike of Hailbrun, with a brass ring attached 

 to it, with the inscription that it .was put into the lake by 

 Frederick II. in 1280, and was, therefore, two hundred 

 and seventy-seven years old when captured in 1497, and 



