290 VORACITY AND HAUNTS OF PIKE. 



swallowed by another, weighing thirteen pounds 

 and a half, and both were taken. This story is 

 barely probable, for I do not see how the hook 

 that caught the lesser pike should afterwards 

 hook the larger one. It is recorded that a large 

 pike put into a canal full of fish destroyed them 

 all within twelve months, except one carp, weigh- 

 ing nearly ten pounds, which though too large 

 for the pike to swallow, showed by its scars that 

 he had attempted to do so. I readily believe this 

 anecdote. A pike caught in the Isis was found 

 to contain a barbel of six pounds, and a chub of 

 more than three. These nine pounds of food 

 formed nearly a third of his own proper weight, 

 which was thirty-one pounds and a half. I 

 believe this ; for I once caught in a net a pike 

 weighing about four pounds, from whose mouth 

 the tail of a trout weighing a pound was project- 

 ing. The pike had been caught in the purse of a 

 drag-net with several trout, and whilst with them 

 in the net had, no doubt, seized the one which 

 was found sticking in his throat. 



Pike are to be found in ponds, bog holes, 

 ditches, canals, and weedy rivers. Their best 

 haunts are in still, shady, and unfrequented 

 waters, having a sandy, clayey, or chalky bottom. 

 They grow larger in ponds and pools than in 

 open, sharp-running rivers. From May to Oc- 

 tober they are usually found near or amongst 



