PIKE AND PICKEREL 



"In shallow cove, near river bank, 

 The pickerel-weeds grow green and rank; 

 In hazel-girdled, crescent bays 

 Speckled with isles, an endtess maze, 

 The yellow-tinted pickerel 

 Lie hidden, motionless and still ; 

 The dorsal fin, the forked tail 



Scarce stir the waters, clear as air, 

 But jaws are open to assail 



And glassy eyes all murderous stare, 

 But when the small fry of the lake. 



The minnow and the shiner bright, 

 Across the limpid surface break, 



Shooting like pearly sparks of light, 

 Then, as an Indian tiger grim 

 Rends antler 'd stag in jungles dim, 

 So doth the water-tyrant slay 

 The helpless, unresisting prey." 



Pike. 



HPHERE is a combination of prac- 

 A tical truth and poetry in the fore- 

 going well cast lines, depicting the 

 nature of the pickerel, a member of 

 the pike family, the two species differ- 

 ing very little in general characteris- 

 tics. The ordinary pickerel is perhaps 

 the best known and most widely dis- 



