16 PIKE. 



has fully recovered, the body is spotted with a 

 beautiful white and yellowish colour. The tail is 

 forked, and, with the fins, is spotted and marked with 

 wavy lines. The younger the fish is, the greener it 

 appears. 



The pike varies greatly in size from three pounds 

 to even fifty pounds. This, however, is an extra- 

 ordinary size, although it has been affirmed that the 

 pike will live for three hundred years, and become one 

 hundred and fifty pounds in weight. 



This fish loves a still, shady, unfrequented water, 

 with a sandy, clayey, or chalky bottom. From May 

 to October it is found amongst the flags, bulrushes, 

 and water-docks; and from March till the end of May, 

 in back waters that have a direct communication with 

 the main stream. As winter approaches, it retires 

 into the deeps, under clay-banks, bushes, stumps or 

 roots of trees, piles of bridges, flood-gates, &c. The 

 pike is a bold biter, and yields good sport. 



'* The pike's ray joy, of all the scaly shoal." 



But it affords more satisfaction to the angler than to 

 the gastronomer. Its flesh is dry, and, when large, 

 is strong and unpalatable. 



The pike is in season, as we have said, from July to 



