THE PIKE. 175 



Solitary fish Extreme voracity. 



are of a most vivid red ; out of season the green 

 assumes a grey appearance, and the yellow spots 

 turn pale. The dorsal fin is placed low on the 

 back. 



This fish was little known to the ancients. It 

 is said to have been introduced into England in 

 the reign of Henry VIII. and was then so rare 

 that a pike was sold at double the price of a house 

 lamb. This however is contradicted by the Rev. 

 Mr. Daniel, for the reasons mentioned in our 

 description of the carp. They are now common, 

 in most of the lakes in Europe, Lapland, and the 

 northern parts of Persia, where they sometimes 

 measure upwards of eight feet in length. They 

 are solitary fish, never congregating like some of 

 the other tribes. 



Scarcely any fish of its size in the world can 

 equal the pike in voracity. One of them has 

 been known to choak itself in attempting to 

 swallow another of its own species that proved 

 too large a morsel : and it has been well authen- 

 ticated that, in Lord Gower's canal at Trentham, 

 a pike seized the head of a swan as she was 

 feeding under water, and gorged so much of it 

 as killed them both. Walton says, " I have 

 been assured by my friend Mr. Seagrave, who 

 keeps tame otters, that he has known a pike, in 

 extreme hunger, fight with one of his otters fora 

 carp that the otter had caught, and was then 

 brought out of the water." 



