1004 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
crease both in size and numbers the nearer it ap- 
proaches to the open sea, at last disappearing entirely. It 
ascends to a great altitude among the mountains; but 
in Switzerland, according to Fatio, stops short at a 
height of 700 — 800 m. above the level of the sea, 
though it has been planted with success 1,100 m. or 
even 1,400 m. above the sea-level. In Tornea Lapp- 
mark it inhabits the alpine lakes above the birch-region; 
in Jemtland, according to Olsson, it ascends to lakes 
at least 650 m., perhaps 740 m. above the level of the 
sea. In its American range too, the Pike is common 
from the Arctic regions (Richardson) south to Ohio; 
but it is not included in Bean’s list of the fishes of 
Alaska. From Greenland and Iceland it is unknown. 
The Pike chooses its spring and summer haunts 
by preference in shallow inlets with a weedy bottom 
and shores overgrown with reeds and rushes. Towards 
autumn it betakes itself to precipitous, stony shores, 
which it again forsakes when the winter is at hand, 
and the inlets freeze. Most of the Pike then return to 
their summer stations; but the larger ones seemingly 
follow the shoals of other fishes to the depths, being 
seldom caught during winter in shallow water. To 
these a more plentiful supply of food is, no doubt, 
necessary than the shallows afford in winter-time. 
When the Pike has chosen its station for the season, 
it restricts its wanderings to the immediate neighbour- 
hood, leading a solitary life, and never seen in com- 
pany except during the spawning. Its attachment to 
one spot may be gathered from a circumstance related 
to us on trustworthy authority. A Pike that had ta- 
ken a trolling-hook and escaped was recaptured after 
several years in a seine at the same place, and the 
hook was found in its stomach. 
The Pike is undoubtedly the most voracious among 
the fresh-water fishes of Scandinavia. It devours in- 
discriminately other fishes, young waterfowl, small 
mammals, and carrion. From the dense bed of grass 
or rushes where it usually passes the day in stationary 
watch, it pounces with the speed of an arrow on its 
unwary victim. It almost always seizes its prey cross- 
vise, and retains its hold until the latter is dead or 
so exhausted as to desist from all struggles. Then the 
Pike turns the prize in its jaws till the head points 
towards the interior of its mouth, and commences its 
meal. This operation is a protracted one when the 
victim is large, for the end first swallowed and received 
in the stomach must digest to make room for the 
remainder. Mr. C. Fk. \Wern has kindly communi- 
cated the following observation in point: “I have kept 
Pike together with a Salmon in a pond fed with run- 
ning water. The former were usually stationary, the 
latter kept constantly on the move. On one occasion 
I saw a Pike of 7 or 8 lbs. weight dart forward and 
seize the Salmon, which was quite as large, in its for- 
midable jaws right across the body. The combat was 
fierce. The Salmon leapt out of the water and made 
desperate, but fruitless struggles to shake off its re- 
lentless captor. In a couple of hours’ time the Salmon 
was utterly exhausted, and the Pike began to swallow 
it head first. The meal lasted three days before the 
whole body had disappeared. The process of digestion 
must have taken much longer, for all the following 
week the Pike had a very swollen appearance, and 
could hardly be induced to move by touching it with 
a long stick.” This voracity grows to ravenous and 
insatiate hunger, and blood-thirsty tendencies are in- 
herent in the Pike from its earliest youth. Baron 
C. J. Cederstrom relates® from his experiments in 
pisciculture that on the 17th of June he had four 
small Pike, two of them measuring about 26 mm., the 
other two about 20 mm., living together in a bowl of 
water. They had been fed with small Ide-fry, the 
larva? of gnats, and water-fleas ( Daphnia ). In dark- 
ness they ate nothing, their rapacity was excited only 
by the moving objects appreciable to their sight. Dur- 
ing the night their bowl had been covered with a lid. 
When he removed the lid at 5 a. m., they were to be 
seen all four; but when he returned a quarter of an 
hour later, one of the larger pair had begun to devour 
one of its smaller comrades. Half of the victim’s body 
still stuck out of the other’s mouth, and moved for 
some moments, while the stomach of the latter was 
monstrously distorted and distended. Soon afterwards 
he observed how the other pair kept a jealous watch 
on one another. The larger of them soon made an 
assault, but was foiled, the smaller escaping by a dex- 
terous movement, yet without fleeing to any distance. 
But the second attack was rewarded with complete 
success, and the two victors now swam about, glutted 
In Sundevall, bfvers., ]. c. 
