THE PIKE 



173 



Distribution. 



The British pike is found in the northern temperate parts 

 of all the three great continents, and is the only species 

 belonging to the Old World ; but in North America 

 it inhabits the same waters with five other nearly 

 allied species, whereof the maskinonge {Esox estor) is the 

 largest. Mr. Walter Nursey assures me that the maskinonge 

 bears the same relation in culinary value to the common pike 

 as the canvas-back does to the domestic duck, which impUes a 

 high degree of superiority. The name maskinonge is usually 

 written " maskalonge," or " muskelunge," which betrays 

 ignorance of its meaning. I am indebted to Mr. Nursey 

 for an interpretation of the term. Kenonjai (the j is sounded 

 as in French) is the Ojibbeway Indian name for the pike ; the 

 prefix mas or mis signifies "great," as in Mississippi, "the great 

 river." Maskinonge, therefore, simply means the great pike ; 

 which, unlike so many popular names, is a perfectly correct 

 description of the creature. 



In Britain the distribution of the pike is sometimes very 



