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 
D 
