280 AMERICAN FISHES. 
The Pikes have been well described as mere machines for the assimi- 
lation of animal matter. They are the wolves of the ponds, the blue-fish 
of the fresh waters, and nothing comes amiss to their ravenous maws. 
The habits of the European species are thus described by a recent writer: 
‘¢ Shrouded from observation in his solitary retreat, he follows with his 
eye the motions of the shoals of fish that wander heedlessly along; he 
marks the water-rat, swimming to his burrow, the ducklings paddling 
among the waterweeds, the dabchicks and moorhens leisurely swimming 
on the surface, he selects his victim, and like the tiger springing from the 
jungle, he rushes forth, seldom indeed missing his aim; there is a sudden 
rush, circle after circle forms on the surface of the water, and all is still 
again in an instant.’’ 
**No quadruped, bird or fish that, the Pike can capture, seems to be 
secure from its voracity, and even the spiny perch is an acceptable prey 
to this water tyrant,’’ wrote Richardson, speaking of its habits in British 
America. 
The breeding habits of the Pike have been best described by my 
friend Prof. Benecke, of Kénigsberg, who writes: 
‘©The Pike inhabits all the waters of Germany except shallow and 
rapid brooks. It prefers clear, quiet water with clean bottom; is usually 
active at night and quiet in the daytime ; lurks among the plants in con- 
venient corners, whence it rushes forth with arrow-like velocity. It lives 
a hermit life, only consorting in pairs during the spawning season. The 
pair of fish then resort to shallow places upon meadows and banks which 
have been overflowed, and, rubbing violently upon each other, deposit 
their spawn in the midst of powerful blows of their tails. The female 
deposits generally about 100,000 yellowish eggs, about three millimeters 
in diameter, out of which in the course of fourteen days the young, with 
their great umbilical sacs, escape.’’ 
In Germany, the spawning time of the Pike, as is shown in an elaborate 
table presented by Wittmack, often begins in the latter part of February, 
and lasts, depending somewhat on the temperature and the weather, into 
March and April, sometimes even into May. 
In South Germany the spawning time is later than in Prussia, while in 
Ireland and Sweden, it appears to be earlier. In Norway, according to 
Lloyd, there are three successive spawnings, which correspond to the 
disappearance of the winter ice, the pairing of the frogs, and the unfolding 
