:J(Jt THE FRESH- VTATKl; FISHES OF EUROPE. 



Pike are often put into lakes and ponds to keep down the number of Trout; 

 and, on the authority of Mons. Woern, Lloyd states that the Pike in a pond 

 are mostly stationary, but the Trout are in constant motion. On one occasion 

 Mons. Woern saw a Pike of seven to eight pounds' weight seize a Trout fully 

 as large as itself across the body. The Trout made desperate but ineffectual 

 efforts to get free, and after-two hours became exhausted. The Pike then com- 

 menced gorging its prey, beginning with the head, and it was not till the 

 expiration of three whole days that it had succeeded in completely swallowing 

 its victim. The process of digestion must have continued much longer, as the 

 fish had a very swollen appearance for a week afterwards, and was hardly able 

 to move from the spot, even when poked with a stick. But Pike readily eat 

 each other, though there is usually a slight advantage in size on the part of the 

 attacking fish. They begin this practice when less than an inch long, and 

 probably continue it throughout life, since we hear of one Pike of nine pounds 

 with its head and throat firmly embedded in the jaws of another Pike of ten 

 pounds, and Dr. Burton tells how the lad who took Pike thus united, wondered 

 to see " a mtickle fish wr 5 tvva tails." 



Near the coast of Sweden the sea-eagle, the osprey, kite, and probably other 

 birds of prey, swoop down on Pike which may be basking at the surface of 

 the water. If the fish is a small one the bird flies away with its booty to the 

 eyrie ; but often bird and fish are equally matched in strength, and then 

 desperate conflicts ensue, which end in the death of both, for after the 

 bird has struck its talons into the flesh of the Pike they cannot be disengaged. 

 If the Pike is more powerful than the bird, the latter is borne down to the 

 bottom, and drowned, and then succeeds, if true, one of the most curious inci- 

 dents of natural history. For, incredible as the story seems, Eckstrom, the 

 Rev. M. Moller, and other writers, state that the flesh of the Pike heals with 

 the talons of the bird in its back, while the bird becomes converted into a 

 skeleton, which is carried about by the Pike. One skeleton, which had long 

 been exhibited by a Pike in Lake Wetter, had acquired a greenish tinge, and 

 was regarded by the fishermen as a harbinger of misfortune. Mr. Lloyd 

 tells us of another skeleton carried on the back of a Pike in Lake Fryksdal, 

 which was known to the fishermen for some time as the Sjotroll, or Water- 

 sprite, and they fled from it in fear. It is said to have appeared like the horns 

 of an elk, or reindeer, moving rapidly on the water ; but at last Lieut. J. 

 Lekander put a 'shot in the Pike which carried it, and solved the mystery, by 

 proving the Water-sprite to be the skeleton of a sea-eagle. 



The flesh of the Pike when spitchcocked is excellent, and of a bright white 

 colour, but is thought to have the choicest flavour when taken from streams, 

 like those of the English Fen-land, where Smelts abound. 



