472 
Fishes. 
THE PIKE. (Esox Indus.) 
The body of this fish is a pale olive-grey, deepest on 
the back, and marked on the sides by several yellowish 
spots or patches ; the abdomen white, slightly spotted 
with black ; its length is from one to eight feet, and its 
weight from one or two to forty or fifty pounds. The 
flesh is white and firm, and considered very wholesome ; 
the larger and older it is, the more it is esteemed. 
There is scarcely any fish of its size in the world that in 
voracity can equal the Pike.* It lives in rivers, lakes, 
and ponds ; and in a confined piece of water will soon 
destroy all other fish, as it generally does not feed upon 
anything else, and often swallows one nearly as big as 
itself ; for through its greediness in eating, it takes the 
head foremost, and so draws it in by little and little at a 
time, till it has swallowed the whole. A gudgeon of 
good size has been found in the stomach of a large Pike, 
the head of which had already received clear marks of 
the power of digestion, whilst the rest of the fish was 
still fresh and unimpaired. 
" I have been assured (says Walton) by my friend 
Mr. Seagrave, who keeps tame otters, that he has known 
a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of his otters 
for a carp that the otter had caught, and was then 
bringing out of the water." 
* Mr. Boccius has, however, shown that the Trout is even moro 
voracious. \ 
