THE PIKE. 303 



nounced by Cuvier to be specifically the same as the 

 European one. 



The Pike is one of the native fish of North America, 

 which country has been not inaptly termed the head- 

 quarters of the family, for while we in Europe have 

 only one species, it has several, and among them one that 

 may well be called the chief of the clan, and of which I 

 shall speak presently. 



The common Pike abounds in all the waters of 

 Canada from east to west, and many have supposed 

 from its identity with ours, that the latter, which is 

 an importation into Britain from some other country, 

 may have been brought over from Canada; but Yarrell 

 tells us that pike are mentioned in an Act of the sixth 

 year of the reign of Richard the Second, viz., in 1382, 

 or long before North America was even discovered. It 

 is, I think, more likely that our fish originally came 

 from Germany. 



Though spread over a very large area of the globe, 

 being it is said geographically distributed with the spruce- 

 fir, the pike undoubtedly arrives at its greatest perfec- 

 tion in the cooler regions. Its average weight in Canada 

 is from five pounds to ten pounds in ponds and rivers, 

 but in the Great Lakes it often attains a much more 

 considerable size, possessing also when taken from these 

 clear and beautiful waters the advantage of being per- 



