376 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



have been roasted in wood ashes by our camp fire, 

 that they have given so much satisfaction, possibly 

 resulting from the proverbial hunter's appetite, that it 

 would have puzzled the most celebrated cook to have 

 produced anything that would have been more enjoyed. 



PIKE. 



This species is very abundant throughout all the 

 waters of the Northern United States and Canadas 

 that are suited for its residence. However, the fami- 

 liar name which heads this chapter is almost unknown 

 in the Western land, its place being usurped by the 

 sobriquet pickerel, the same misnomers occurring 

 among fish which are so abundantly applied to the 

 feathered and four-footed game. 



The best pike-fishing I have ever enjoyed in my life 

 was in the Holland Eiver, about thirty miles north of 

 Toronto, near its junction with Lake Simcoe. Here 

 the fish are very large, and if caught in a taking 

 humour, the most greedy for sport will have their 

 appetite abundantly satisfied. The eye of the con- 

 noisseur in piscatorial matters could not find a stream 

 better suited in every particular for becoming the 

 habitat of the pike than the river just mentioned, for 

 it is densely margined with weeds on both sides, with 

 a deep sluggish channel between them, and such are 

 its characteristic features for many a mile. If the 

 sportsman visited this haunt in spring or autumn, 

 he should not fail to have his gun with him, for innu- 

 merable wild fowl frequent it in their migrations north 

 and south ; in fact, at sunset and break of day I have 

 seen the entire surface of its placid waters covered 

 with them. Deer, also, were formerly very abundant 



