157 



ABDOMQfAI, 

 MALACOPTERYGli. " ■ ' ESOCIDjE. 



THE COMMON PICKEREL. 



Esox Reiicutatus; lie Sueur. 



Throughout the United States, excepting only the extreme west- 

 ern and southern waters, this is perhaps '- the comm'onest of all game 

 fishes ; from New England to the western limits of Pennsylvania, not 

 a river, pond, or streamlet but aBounds with this bold and' rapacious 

 fish ; and it is probable that, likfe Jhaiiy other of the northern fish, he 

 is found in the waters of the hill districts* of Virginia, Carolina, and 

 even of the Western States, although in such locations he is lost sight 

 of among the tribes peculiar to those regions. ' 



With regard to the Southern. States, especially, it is almost impos- 

 sible to arrive at anything like certainty concerning' the species or 

 varieties of gamg fish to be found within their limits, from the univer- 

 sal misapplication of names, and the unhappy tendency of sportsmen, 

 to which I have already made p,llusion, to adopt any barbarous local 

 misnomer, Bather than to make themselves acquainted with the true 

 specific names, and to learn the distinctions, so as to speak under- 

 standingly of the game which they take. ■'" 



It is indeed a hopeless task to hunt up the real peculiarities and 



