410 
[May 21, 1898. 
enabled to reach results which I am certain will sur- 
prise your readers as much as they did me. The facts 
I gather were first submitted by Robert Ridgeway, Cura- 
tor of the Ornithological Department of the National 
Museum at Washington, to the International Fisheries 
Congress, held in London in 1885; and as the summary 
is my own, compiled from the Ridgeway list, I doubt 
if the like has ever been published before. From the 
prefatory note in the catalogue it would seem that there 
are no less than a grand total of 277 aquatic species, 
in addition to the fisli-eating land birds, like the king- 
fisher, osprey, ousel, etc., which live largely upon fish. 
Indeed all water birds may be assumed to be piscivor- 
ous. Grouped in their orders, they would appear as 
follows: 
Catalogue of Aquatic Fish-Eating Birds. 
Order of Herodiones or Herons. 
Herons, varieties 14 Ibises 4 
Storks 2 Spoon-bill ilpis j. 
Total, 21. 
Order o^ Limicoles or Shore Bii,-ds — Eat Eggs or 
Spawn. 
Oyster catchers 3 Curlews 5 
Turnstones 3 Yellowlegs 2 
Plovers IS Greenshanks i 
Snipes 5 Willets i 
Sandpipers 22 Tattlers 2 
Woodcock 2 Phalaropes 3 
Godwits 4 Avocets 2 
Total, 70. 
Order of Paludicoles or Marsh Birds 
Rails 10 Coots 2 
Gallinules 2 Limpkin i 
Crakes 2 Cranes 3 
Jacana i Flamingo i 
Total, 22. 
Order Anseres. 
Swans 4 Brant; 2 
Geese .1,2 Ducks 40, 
Total, s8. 
Order Steganopodes or Totipalmate Swimmers. 
Pelicans 3 Gaunets 4 
Cormorants 12 Tropic birds 2 
Total, 21. 
Order Gavise or Gidl-like Swimmers. 
Skimmer i Terns 17 
Kitti wakes 2 Skua gulls or jaegers ... 4 
Gulls 22 
Total, 46. 
Order Tubina\es. 
Albatrosses 5 Shearwaters H 
Petrels or fulmars 15 
Totals 31. 
Order Pygopodes or Divers. 
Grebes 8 Puffins 5 
Loons 5 Dovekie i 
Auks 7 Guillemots 1:4 
Total, 40. 
Grand total, 277. 
We discover, however, that reprisal is the pirime order 
of nature, and that the water birds do not have it all their 
own way; for the pikes, muscalonge, and gars feed 
largely on shore birds, tilts or sandpipers especially; 
while many a loon, teal or dipper becomes a prey to the 
larger fishes, who incontinently turn the tables upon them 
and swallow them whole. Swallows, when flitting upon 
the calm surface of lakes in summer, are often caught on 
the wing, and small land birds sitting on branches which 
overhang the shore are often picked off by ravenous 
pike, which leap 2ft. upward to seize them. And some- 
times a mother goose with her family of goslings will be 
sitting unsuspectingly on the water when one of the 
brood suddenly flutters and disappears, and presentlj^ 
another follows, and then anotlier, until at last the old 
lady, who is unable to count, finds herself wholly bereft 
and childless, despoiled by a voracious pike. In the 
ocean too the angler or goosefish with gaping mouth, 
the shark, the barracouda and the cod all live on sea birds; 
and in Newfoundland the fishermen use the petrels, 
shearwaters and hagden for bait in catching codfish; and 
on the seal islands in the Pacific the fish known as killer 
will hang around the rocks and snatch the seals oft as 
the}' clamber up the kelp-covered slopes. 
Thus goes on the struggle for existence. It is not 
only "dog eat dog," according to the adages, and "fleas 
which have other fleas to bite 'em, and so go on ad 
infinitum," but in all the animal kingdom we find the 
law of reprisal in constant operation. Man's sympathies 
go with those Avhich afifect his own subsistence least. 
If edible ducks were the customary victims of the pike, 
it might become a question with the sportsman as to 
which he would incline, depending mainly upon his 
proclivities as angler or hunter. As for the loons, 
gulls, grebes, hawks and kingfishers, which enliven our 
lakes and give them charm, I would spare them all and 
grant the few fish they catch; for a wilderness without 
animal life is as desolate as a hearth without a fire. 
Tenantless, it is almost as a body without a soul. 
Charles Hallock. 
Spring: Fishing: at Charleston Lake. 
Charleston, Ont., May 12. — Spring salmon fishing 
is at its best here now. Col. Van Cleef, Comptroller 
Hancock, Judge Woodruff, Messrs. Gummere, Mont- 
gomery, and Capt. R. Reading, of Trenton, N. J., made 
their annual visit last week, and catches averaged from 
twelve to eighteen fish to a boat. Messrs. Iffland, Wis- 
ner and Waldman, of Newark, N. J., are here, and hav- 
ing phenomenal success. Largest fish caught this sea- 
son, i81bs., 13^, and 12%. 
The fishing for sinall-mouth black bass opens June 
15, and the guides say that it promises to be an extra 
good season, as the bass are very large, and the water 
is at the proper height. W. H. Leavitt. 
Bowman's Bluff, N. C. — Inclosed is check for one 
year's subscription to my favorite periodical. Go on 
sawing your Plank. Game law's a dead letter here, and 
every poacher does as he likes, unless you can catch 
Fresh-Water Angling. 
No, VI.-^PickereI, Pike and Mascalonge, 
BY FRED MATHER. 
Here are three good American game fishes which 
somehow seem to be mixed up in the minds of anglers 
who fish, but do not read. They know the three names, 
and in a vague way attach them to the fish found in 
their local waters. To readers of Forest and Stream 
the differences have been pointed out in print and in 
picture many times, but these things require to be ham- 
mered at and reiterated year after year before a few 
anglers in separate localities are well enough informed 
to begin the education of their neighbors. There is 
no good reason for confounding the three species, for 
they are not only distinct in points of structure, but 
their colors differ so greatly that there should be no 
confusion, and color is more regarded by the angler than 
by the ichthyologist. A man should not only know 
how to catch fish, but also how to name them correctly. 
With others I have labored at the herculean task of 
correcting our mixed and often absurd nomenclature of 
American fishes, and thirty years ago I hoped to accom- 
plish it. To-day I am content to help with the good 
work, which may be completed a century hence. 
*Pike is an old English word applied to the only mem- 
ber of this family and genus which inhabits Europe. 
The Germans know it as "hecht" and the French as 
"brochat." This is the Esox lucitts of the books. The 
English have three names for the fish, to denote dif- 
ferent sizes, just as they have a dozen or more names 
for a salmon, to express its age or condition; when 
small it is called a "pickerel," ji:st as a cock under a 
yea.r old is called a "cockerel," the termination being a 
diminutive. Therefore "pickerel" is a name denoting 
a small pike, and scholarly anglers of America so ac- 
cept the name and apply it to one of our five species of 
this family, for we have that number, while Europe has 
only one. In England when the fish has grown to 
4lbs., more or less — I am not certain about the limit — it 
becomes a "jack," and is so known until it can pull the 
scales down to lolbs., when it receives its third degree 
and is entitled to be known as a pike. These three 
names were imported into America by our ancestors 
and applied indiscriminately to three species, and we 
have never been able to correct the error in the popular' 
mind. 
Added to this, they found a giant member of the 
family with the Indian name which has been perverted 
into mascalonge, and this added to the confusion. In 
this attempt to straighten out the kinks of nomenclature 
I am following the best authorities, and make no claim 
for original work in this line. If the angler will consider 
the fact that of all the species of fresh and salt-water 
fish which inhabit or frequent the North American Con- 
tinent there are only three which bear the same name 
from Maine to Florida, he will get a fair idea of the 
abominably mixed state of the names of our fishes among- 
anglers. They are all straight among the fish sharps, 
who use Latin names that are recognized by scientists 
of all countries; but the busy man, who has no time 
nor taste for such investigation, wants a plain, single- 
jointed name for his fish, and the three fishes which 
have a common name all over our coasts, rivers, and the 
Great Lakes, are the shad, eel and sturgeon. These 
are all English names of Ertglish fishes, and could not 
be misapplied because there was no chance to mix 
them, as in the case of the pike family. Outside of 
these three fishes there is no other American fish which 
has not from six to thirty names in different localities — I 
was about to say sections, but in our now united coun- 
try such divisions no longer exist. With this as a 
preamble, necessary to a fair iniderstanding of the pike 
family, we will take a look at each of the three promi- 
nent members of it, and then "go for 'em" with hook 
and line, with that good old Latin war cry inscribed on 
our corks: Soc et tu em. 
The Species. 
It has been here recorded that America has five spe- 
cies of this family, and as the familj' has but one genus, 
Esox, that is all there is of it. Two of these species are 
small, rarely exceeding loin. in length, and therefore 
may be dropped as far as the angler is concerned, al- 
though for the table these small species are the only 
ones that I A'alue enough ever to buy in market. 
They infest cold trout brooks, and should be eaten to gel 
them out of the way. One of them inhabits the coast- 
wise streams east of the AUeghanies, and the other the 
Mississippi Basin; and as they are as voracious'as their 
larger relatives they are great pests in trout streams 
and ponds. Long Island brooks are infested with them, 
and they devour trout fry in great numbers, as well 
as the young of other fishes. 
Pickerel, 
In portions of Canada this name is applied to a hard- 
finned member of the perch tribe, and in parts of the 
United States it is used properly, and also improperly, 
for the great pike. The pickerel, E. reticulatus , gets its 
specific name from the Latin reticula, a net, on account 
of a more or less distinct black network on its yellowish 
or greenish sides. This should be a sufficient guide to 
the angler, but in some waters where this and the next 
species exist there are anglers and fishermen who do 
not separate them, or if they do they call the larger 
species mascalonge when they are simply pike. 
In the three species of which this paper will treat 
the shape and position of the fins is the same. Except 
in large specimens there is no aldermanic abdomen, 
the lines of the back and belly being nearly parallel, 
with the soft dorsal fin set far back, near the tail, and 
but slightly in advance of the anal fin, which, with its 
fewer rays, comes out about even behind. 
Structural differences, which are the most important 
points in determining species, have been illustrated re- 
cently in Forest and Stream, arid we will skip them, 
for the angler considers color to be the main thing, 
which in this family is sufficiently constant and varied 
in the species for our purpose. 
The pickerel is called "jack" in Virginia and Southern 
waters, and as they have no other species there we can. 
get on understandingly. It is found in the clear, grassy 
streams and ponds of the Atlantic coast from Maine tO' 
Alabama, but not west of the AUeghanies, nor in the-. 
Great Lake region. It was introduced into the. Adiron- 
dacks from Fulton county, N. Y., in 1842,* and they 
have spread fi"om the "south woods" north to Meachami 
Lake, ruining many good trout lakes and streams, for 
worms, insects and their larvie do not enter into the- 
diet of this family to any noticeable extent; they live 
on fish and are the sharks of fresh water. The pickerel! 
seldom exceeds 61bs. in weight, and 81bs. is believed to^ 
be the limit of its size. 
Pike. 
In early American angling literature Frank Forrester- 
called this fish "the great northern pickerel;" Genio C- 
Scott, 1875, did not know it, but he wrote of it all the- 
same. He was a salt-water angler only, and padded out 
his work by borrowing from previous writers, withomt 
credit in most instances. Norris follows Forrester irn 
his nomenclature, but figures a pike, and not a pickerel,, 
as the "Great Lake pickerel," and he also figures the- 
mascalonge correctly, and under the head of "the pond! 
pike, or common pike," he gives an indication of the net- 
work on the sides of the pickerel. This is in his editioni 
of 1865, and the tangle was being slowly worked out 
for anglers. Of course the scientists had it all clear,, 
but they are so learned (and only condescend to write- 
for those who are as learned as themselves) that they 
talk over the head of the ordinary angler, who, by 
the way, does not see their dust-covered tomes, and! 
would not understand them if he did. 
The pike grows to a weight of 4olbs. and over, and! 
this fact makes some fishermen confound it with its big 
brother, the mascalonge. Its color is a bluish gray,, 
with oval white spots about the size of a white beam 
As the mascalonge is black spotted, plain or slightly 
barred, the confusion in names can only exist among 
those who have not seen both species. The fact that 
it has no scales on its cheek and none on the lower half 
of its gill cover woiild not be noticed by the average 
angler. 
Range of the Pike. 
The pike, Esox Indus, has probably the greatest range 
of any fresh-water fish. It is found throughout northern 
Europe and as far south as Italy. It occurs in Asia, 
and we would not be surprised to find it scooping in 
the smaller fishes in some of the lakes and streams of 
Africa, when the British angle'r explores that conti- 
nent in search of new fields and fishes. Ah me! if I 
were only twenty now, with the spirit of adventure that 
once raged, and the geographical knowledge and possi- 
bilities of travel of to-day, the streams of Siberia, South 
Africa and India would be a mine of fishy wealth to ex- 
plore. 
In America the range of this fish was originally from 
Lake Champlain to northern Indiana and the northwest 
to Alaska, according to Jordan. It has been extended 
to the Adirondacks of New York by vandals who placed 
it in the trout lakes there for reasons best known to 
themselves; let us hope that it was in ignorance of 
the destructiveness of the fish. In places where the 
pike occurs it is commonly mistaken for the mascalonge 
because it is larger than the pickerel, the exceptions be- 
ing where both of the larger species are found. How any 
man who has once seen these two great pikes can con- 
found them is a great puzzle. I quote the following 
from my "Adirondack Survey Notes" to Forest and 
Stream in 1882, when I was the ichthyologist of the 
survey, under Supt. Verplanck Colvin, and had the 
noted guide Jack Sheppard detailed to serve me: 
"' 'There is a fish in Long Lake which some call a mus- 
calonge and others a pickerel,' said the guide, 'and no 
one seems to know exactly what it is, or if they do, the 
others who differ from them don't accept their decision, 
You should go there and see the fish and settle it.' 
"On arriving at Kellogg's on Long Lake we found 
the question of maskinonje versus pickerel being argued 
in the hotel office. One man said that he had been all 
through New York markets and had asked the differ- 
ences between the fish, and the market men had always 
shown him fish like those in the lake for maskinonje, 
or muscalonge, as it is here called. Fortunately the 
landlord had one in the kitchen, and Sheppard suggested 
that it be shown to me. There Avas no difficulty in de- 
termining it to be the great lake pike, Esox luchis. It 
is singular how much mixed the mass of anglers are 
about this family of fishes. The colors alone are suffi- 
cient, generally, to identity them withotit going into 
the structural differences, as scales on cheek, etc., yet 
many who can distinguish the two named do not distin- 
guish the great pike from the smaller pickerel, E. reticu- 
latus, the one which only grows to 5 or 61bs. and has 
black network on its sides, but call them both 'pickerel.' 
•We only stopped next day long enough to take four 
specimens, two of which were too large for the alcohol 
tank, and therefore had to be given away. The smaller 
ones, about 2lbs. each, were preserved." 
An angler is not half an angler unless he knows his 
fish. To catch a fish, or to shoot a bird, and be unable 
to identify it, proclaims one to be a duffer unless the 
specimen happens to be a stranger in the country where 
it is killed, and is therefore a legitimate subject for 
speculation and for appeal to higher authority. There 
is no good reason why any intelligent angler should, 
in this late day, mistake or confound any members of 
the pike family, because the colors aljDne will furnish a 
key to them, even if he has no knowledge of their struc- 
ture, on which scientists base the difference. 
The Mascalonge. 
The name of the giant American pike is variously 
spelled; the above is a popular way, and is nearer to 
the original than "muscalunge," which is a further cor- 
ruption. Our older angling writers, Scott, Roosevelt, 
et al., failed to grasp the fact that the Canadian French 
took the name of the fish from the Ojibwas, and twisted 
it so that it would appear to be derived from the French 
■masque-allonge, or long face. Forty years ago I knew 
some Ojibwa, enough to interpret in a small way for a 
Government survey, and in Forest and Stream in the 
* Twelfth Report the Survey of the Adirondack Region, 1882. 
