THE PIKE. 73 



the Danish Fauna, no mention of it is made by Swedish 

 naturalists. 



The Pike (Gtidda, Sw. ; Esox Lucius, Linn.) was abundant 

 with us as well in the Gotha as the Wenern. It is common 

 also throughout nearly the whole of Scandinavia from Scania 

 to Lapland. We read, indeed, of its being found in the 

 lakes and tarns of that wild country beyond the limits of 

 arboreal vegetation, or at least of the birch-tree. It is like- 

 wise plentiful in the eastern Skargard. But that salt-water 

 is not its proper element, may be inferred from the fact that 

 these fish diminish both in size and number, in proportion as 

 they approach the open sea, where they are no longer to be 

 found. 



In my vicinity, the spawning season of the pike was in April 

 and May. The lek is usually held in shallow water, with a 

 weedy and muddy bottom, or it may be in a flooded meadow. 

 It lasts for a considerable time, from the circumstance of 

 there being two to three separate leks. Contrary to the usual 

 habit of fishes, the young pike always lek first, then the 

 middle-aged, and lastly, the older and larger fish. 



There is a tradition among fishermen in the midland 

 provinces of Sweden, which has been handed down from 

 time immemorial, and which is still believed, that on St. 

 Gregory's Day, the 12th of March, the pike first turns his 

 head towards the shore, and that on St. Gertrude's Day, the 

 1 7th of the same month, he leaves the deeps where he has 

 passed the winter, and makes his approach towards the land. 

 The first lek takes place before the ice is fully gone, and the 

 fish engaged in it are in consequence called Gertrude , or Ice- 

 pike. When this first lek is over, by which time the ice has 

 disappeared, the second lek begins ; and as it occurs just at 



