PIKE. 33 



hundreds of anglers where there are scarcely any 

 other fish, and so we must not be too hard upon 

 him. 



Throughout Britain the pike is both common 

 and widely distributed. It occurs not only in 

 canals and reservoirs (in some of which it is 

 extremely abundant), but also in many rivers. 

 Pike love deep, logged water, and when they 

 are found in running streams it is mainly in 

 pools and dams. Sometimes they lie in deep 

 dubs, but always make to the shallows to spawn. 

 The eggs are shed in spring, at which time, of 

 course, the fish is in poor condition, and is 

 generally to be found among weeds, or where 

 the water has backed up into an eddy. As to 

 the food of the pike something has been said 

 already ; it will devour almost all species of 

 fresh-water fishes, which it endeavours to gulp 

 down whole. It sometimes catches a tartar 

 in a prickly perch, which, finding itself in 

 the pike's jaws, immediately raises its back fin, 

 when all the efforts which the pike can exert 

 are unable to disgorge it. In addition to a 

 pretty wide range of fish food, the pike disdains 

 neither flesh nor fowl, and sometimes even in- 

 dulges in carrion. A pike has been known to 

 attempt to swallow a salmon, and it is well 

 authenticated that various species of the young 



