574 THE SALMON. 



The voracity of the Pike is too well known to need much comment. 

 A tiny Jack of five inches in length has been known to capture and 

 try to eat a gud^^eon of its own size, and to swim about quite uncon- 

 cernedly with the tail of its victim protruding from its mouth. Had 

 it been suffered to live, it would probably have finished the gudgeon in 

 course of time, as the head was found to have been partially digested. 

 Three water-rats have been found in the stomach of one Pike, accom- 

 panied by the remains of a bird too far decomposed to be recognizable, 

 but supposed to be the remnants of a duck. So universal is the appe- 

 tite of this fish that it has even been known to seize the paste bait 

 which had been used for other and less voracious inhabitants of the 

 waters. 



When the Pike attains a tolerable size it takes possession of some 

 particular spot in the bank, usually a kind of hole or cave which is 

 slieltered by overhanging soil or roots, and aflbrds a lair where it can 

 lurk in readiness to pounce upon its passing prey. 



The Pike seems to have no limit to its size, for it is a very long-lived 

 fish, and seems always to increase in dimensions, provided it be well 

 supplied with food. A fish of ten or twelve pounds weight is consid- 

 ered to be a fine specimen, though there have been examples where the 

 Pike has attained more than five times the latter weight. These huge 

 fi.-hes of sixty or seventy pounds are, however, of little value for the 

 table. 



The color of the Pike is olive-brown on the back, taking a lighter 

 hue on the sides, and being variegated with green and yellow. The 

 al)domen is silvery white. 



The Salmon is undoubtedly the king of British river-fish — not so 

 much for its dimensions, w^hich are exceeded by one or two giant mem- 

 bers of the finny tribe, but for the silvery sheen of its glittering scales, 

 its wonderful dash and activity, affording magnificent sport to the 

 angler, the interesting nature of its life from the egg to full maturity, 

 and last, but not least, for the exquisite flavor and nutritive character 

 of its flesh. 



In former days, before civilization had substituted man and his 

 dwellings for the broad meadows and their furred and feathered in- 

 mates, the Salmon was found in many an English river. Now, how- 

 ever, there are but few streams where this splendid fish can be seen, 

 for in the greater number of British rivers the water has been so de- 

 filed by human agency that the fastidious Salmon will not suffer itself 

 to be poisoned by such hateful mixture of evil odors and polluted 

 waters, and in the few streams where the water is still sufficiently pure 

 for the Salmon to venture into them, the array of nets, weirs, and all 

 kuids of Salmon traps is so tremendous that not one tithe of the nor- 

 mal number is now found in them. 



