170 PICKEREL. 



D. 21 ; P. 14 ; Y. 11 ; A. 17 ; C. 26. 



And according to Dr. De Kay 



D. 21 ; P. 13 ; Y. 11 ; A. 21 ; C. 19f 



And according to Professor Agassiz 



D. 22 ; P. 18 ; Y. 13 ; A. 20 ; C. 26. 



This goes to show that either it is very difficult to 

 count the fin-rays, or that they differ ; to the latter of 

 which suppositions my belief inclines, as I think the 

 older the fish the more fin-rays are formed, or so hard- 

 ened as to be perceptible. 



The habits of this class of fish are as similar as their 

 appearance, and whether you capture a tiny pickerel with 

 your fly in some shallow Long Island water, or entrap 

 the huge mascallonge with a treble hook half concealed 

 beneath red flannel and shining tin, they rush with the 

 same eagerness and grasp with the same determination. 

 I amused myself one evening on Long Island in casting 

 over a newly-made shallow pond with my ordinary trout 

 cast of flies, and seeing the ferocity with which pickerel, 

 varying from four to nine inches in length, would dart 

 upon their anticipated prey. 



All pickerel inhabit sluggish water, and abound among 

 the long, grassy pickerel weed that thrives upon a muddy 

 bottom. The St. Lawrence, where it winds amid the 

 beautiful Thousand Isles and forms innumerable deep 

 and quiet bays, is their favorite home. The water, flow- 

 ing from the immense lakes and holding suspended the 

 seeds of aquatic plants, is favorable to the growth of 

 the pickerel weed, and is in every way suitable to the 

 fish themselves. The latter, however, have great power, 

 and can unquestionably stem a strong current, for no 



