ALONG THE LILY-PADS 



UNDER the broad green leaves of the 

 water-lilies, that fringe the edges of lakes, 

 ponds, and slow-flowing streams, there 

 lurks, during the warm months of the year, 

 that watchful privateer of fishes, the true 

 pike (Eso.r lucius), more commonly and in- 

 correctly called pickerel. The real pickerel 

 is a smaller, less distinctly, and brilliantly 

 marked fish, of a dull greenish hue. It fre- 

 quents the same waters and lurking places 

 as the pike, and is, perhaps, equally vora- 

 cious and gamy; but its inferior size and 

 strength and duller markings make it seem 

 less of a prize to the keen fisherman, who 

 casts his minnow or his troll into the dark, 

 still-flowing water. In rivers and large 

 creeks the pike seems to exceed in numbers 

 his smaller and weaker cousin, the pickerel ; 

 but where the stream is only a few yards 

 wide, and flows between reedy borders, in 

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