308 Pike-Fishing. 



agers" later. During this season they retire into 

 the ditches or shallows, where they deposit their 

 ova amongst the leaves of aquatic plants, and not, 

 like most other fish, in the bed of the stream. The 

 eggs are about the size of turnip-seed, and exceed- 

 ingly numerous. In one fish of 32 lb., Mr Buckland 

 found no fewer than 595,200 eggs, the roe weighing 

 5 lb. When the spawning process is complete, the 

 pike scour themselves in the streams, and then take 

 up their regular stations for the season. Alike 

 in rivers and in lochs these haunts are chiefly 

 the deep, sluggish pools, floored by bulrushes, 

 lilies, and other plants. If the loch is large, they 

 frequent the weedy sides, the little bays, or the 

 mouths of streams where small fry abound; in 

 ponds or small lochs, they may be found roaming 

 more at large on foraging expeditions. In rivers, 

 the mouths of back-waters, dam-heads, and eddies 

 between two streams are favourite resorts, in fact, 

 wherever there is a weedy shelter and a sluggish 

 water, there the fish may take up their abode. In 

 fine weather they lie just outside these retreats or 

 a little within them ; in winter, after the first heavy 

 flood, they retire to the more sheltered deeps. 

 Though trout are found in deep waters which pike 

 frequent, the pike's range is limited to such waters ; 

 they are not found in streams and shallows, where 

 trout are at home. The best part of the Clyde for 



