184 FEDERATION PIKE. 



CHAPTEE XYIII. 



FEDERATION PIKE. 



Esox Tredecem JRadiatus. This fish, simply so called 

 because it has no name among fishermen and sportsmen, 

 is almost unknown to naturalists. Dr. De Kay doubts 

 its existence, and it is described alone by Dr. Mitchill. 

 I take, therefore, much pleasure in adding my testimony, 

 so far as it goes, to its existence, although after all it 

 may be merely a northern or common pickerel so altered 

 by a change of food and water as not to be recognizable. 

 There were a large number taken in the Little Herring 

 Pond, on Cape Cod near Agawam, and the secret of 

 their existence being kept for years, we had excellent 

 sport before the natives found it out, and with their 

 spears and guns, fishing through the ice and killing then? 

 on the spawning-beds put a termination to their existence. 

 A few may remain, and thus determine the question. 

 "We caught large numbers, taking them of ten pounds' 

 weight, and readily killing in a few hours a hundred and 

 twenty-five pounds. The fish were peculiarly beautiful 

 in appearance, so much so that I made a rough outline 

 which is now before me, and marked in the colors for 

 the purpose of painting the picture of one. T afterward 

 found the undertaking difficult, on account of the dissi- 

 milarities of the common pickerel, which I purchased in 



