PICKEREL. 179 



times they are shot or speared without inercy. In fact, 

 the quick eye, ready hand and steady foot required for 

 spearing renders it an exciting and reputable sport, 

 worthy of, and often unattainable by, the best of us. In 

 Winter, pickerel seek the warm, deep water, and are 

 caught through a hole in the ice by a live bait on a hand 

 line. This is said to be very exciting, provided a rude 

 hut is built over the hole, and a fire made in the hut, 

 and provided the fisherman, seated in a comfortable chair, 

 provided with a book, a segar and a glass of hot punch, 

 has an assistant to pull out the fish. It is alleged 

 that these fish are, " during the height of the season," 

 brilliant and beautiful ; if that is so with any, except the 

 Long Island Pickerel and the Federation Pike, the height 

 of the season must have been too high for me to reach. 



The family of the Esocidce are truly typified by the 

 voracious and terrible Esox luceus, wolf-fish, the true 

 pike, from which they take their name, and include 

 among their numbers the formidable Gar-pike, Esox 

 osseus of the Southern waters. Although their flesh is 

 hardly fit for the table, they are universally abundant, 

 and their capture affords that kind of pleasure always 

 derived from taking many and large animals of any 

 description. 



The principal species known in this country are : 



THE MASCALLONGE, Esox Estor. 



THE NORTHERN PICKEREL, Esox Lucioides, both of 

 which inhabit the great rivers and lakes of the North. 



THE COMMON PICKEREL, Esox JReticulatus, of the mid 

 die and northern States. 



THE LONG ISLAND PICKEREL, Esox Easciatus. 



