HABITS OF THE PIKE. S3 



to that size from stores which had been put into it 

 seven years previously. 



The voracity of the pike is enormous. I had 

 a dead pike sent me weighing about seven pounds, 

 which was killed by endeavouring to swallow another 

 of about five pounds. They were both found on 

 the bank of a pond, the head of the smaller pike 

 being in the throat of the other. 



A pike very recently took a bait and was killed, 

 and the tail of a rat was found projecting from its 

 mouth. 



In cold weather, pike conceal their heads and 

 tails under weeds, while their backs are uncovered. 

 They show some reluctance to leave this position, 

 even when touched with a stick, and in the river 

 Thames the fisherman frequently take them up 

 in the hand when they find them in this situation. 



Pike are not gregarious fish, but it is certain 

 that they migrate at a particular period of the 

 year, probably before or after the spawning season. 

 A friend of mine who had a right of fishing in the 

 river Ouse in Norfolk, informed me that he caught 

 them occasionally in nets in such prodigious num- 

 bers that they were hawked about for sale all round 

 the country. He sent me a large hamper full of 

 them by way of specimen, but they were not much 

 to be commended. 



I will now close my account of pike, and pike 

 fishing, merely adding that we pursued our diver- 



