OF NATURAL HISTORY OF CANADA 47 



The Maskinong^ 



The Maskincnge, which is an inhabitant of the great lakes 

 and the St. Lawrence, and is found in the Ottawa river and in lakes 

 St. Louis and St. Francis and several of the inland lakes of the 

 Province of Quebec, is the largest of the American pikes, and a 

 much more gamj- fish than the ordinan- pike or pickerel, Lucius 

 lucius or Esox lucius. The Maskinonge. {Ductus masquin<Mgy 

 of Mitchell and Esox nobilior of Thompson) derives its name from 

 the Indian mashk (1) (deformed) and kinonje (a pike), and was 

 appUed to the Esox nobilior bj' the Indians, because it appeared to 

 them a deformed or different kind of pike from that to which they 

 had been accustomed. ITie river of the same name that flows 

 into Lake St. Peter, which name had been extended to the town 

 built at its mouth, and to the count j' of which it is the chief lieu, was 

 doubtless so called from the number of these fish taken in or near 

 its estuarj'. Considering that the popular name of this fish has 

 come to us from an Indian source in the earliest daj-s of the countn' 

 it is unfortunate that an apparent desire to get awaj' from French 

 orthography has produced a confusion of names, similar to those 

 applied by American writers and lexicographers to the ouananiche, 

 which the}' anghcanize as "wannanishe" or "winnanishe" ! They 

 similarh' use the forms ''mascalonge", "muscalonge", or "mus- 

 kellonge" for maskinonge. However, the^' are "ouananiche", and 

 "maskinonge" in the statutes of Canada and of the Province of 

 Quebec, and such are the forms that will survive in the homeland 

 of the fish in question. 



This magnificent fish has been known to reach a length of 

 eight feet according to Jordan and Evermann, and to weigh as 

 much as a hundred pounds. 



The Pike 



The pike Esox hicius or Lucius luAnus is one of the commonest 

 fishes in manj- of the lai^er lakes and rivers of the province of 

 Quebec, and perhaps because it is so common is less esteemed as a 

 game fish here than it is in England. It is the wolf of fresh water 

 and pre5's upon am- hve thing that it can swallow, not only fish of 

 all kinds, but even water rats, mice, j'oung ducks, frogs, etc. Spec- 

 imens up to fifty pounds weight have been taken in the Peribonca 

 river. The name pike is generally apphed, though erroneously, in 

 the L'nited States, to the pike-j)erch or dore, and the true pike is 

 there called pickerel, which is the name always appUed in England 

 to a small pike and was given by the early English-speaking settlers 

 in Canada and the United States to the dore. 



Pike Perch or Pickerel 



The Pike Perch or Pickerel, or wall-eyed Pike. Stizostedion 

 vitreum, is known to French-Canadians as the Dore, probably on 

 account of its golden bronze sides; though of course it is quite a 

 different fish from the European Dore. Its dorsal fins are well 



sur 



(1) Mpr Lafleche, a former missionary to the Indians in the "Rapport 

 les missions du diocese de Quebec", no 12, April 1857, p. 102. 



