The Pike Family 147 



on the shore, near at hand, to warm the chilled 

 fingers. It was pretty tame when considered 

 from the angler's point of view; but with the 

 keen, crisp winter air, and the bright sun spar- 

 kling on the pure white snow, on which I occa- 

 sionally took a spin in the sleigh, it was quite 

 an enjoyable experience. In the course of a few 

 hours several pike were taken and left lying 

 on the snow, where they soon became frozen 

 stiff. Upon my arrival at home they were 

 placed in a tub of cold water, when all but one 

 or two revived and began to swim about ; the 

 latter were probably too thoroughly frozen or 

 may have been dead before being frozen. Apro- 

 pos of this : I had some minnows in a live box, at 

 the edge of the lake near my home, that thawed 

 out alive in the spring after being frozen all 

 winter. They were evidently the same minnows, 

 as there were no dead ones, and the live ones 

 could hardly have got into the box from the lake. 

 The mediocrity of the pike as a game-fish is 

 doubtless a just estimation in a majority of cases, 

 but once in a while one will exhibit game quali- 

 ties that will surprise the most doubting and con- 

 temptuous angler, compelling his admiration, and 

 forcing him to admit that there are exceptions 



