28 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



sexes are easily distinguished, the males putting on a de- 

 cidedly orange tint, their fins brilliantly red, with the first 

 two or three rays of the ventrals and anal vividly white j 

 while the females are of a sober silver gray. Their forms 

 also differ at spawning time the males deep-bodied, slab- 

 sided, and long-headed ; the females with the usual small 

 head, and the looked-for rotundity and protuberance of 

 abdomen. The males show all the ardor of quadrupeds 

 on such occasions, and in their contests for the favors of 

 the shy spawners the result is sometimes fatal. I have 

 picked up males at the outlet of my pond whose scarred 

 and gashed sides left no doubt as to the cause of their 

 death. A greater part of the time of the male is occupied 

 in driving off rivals, and fish that wait at hand to devour 

 the eggs as they are dropped. 



A male may have milt enough for several females of his 

 own size, consequently, his milting extends over a period 

 of a week or ten days ; during which time he may have 

 two, or three mates in succession. A female when she is 

 mated and her spawn matured, deposits it all in a day or 

 two, or in three days at most; if her mate is so small that 

 his milt is exhausted before she is done spawning, she 

 seeks another companion. 



As the time for spawning approaches, the fish fall off in 

 flesh and flavor, which they do not generally regain until 

 late in the following spring. When they have access to 

 brackish and salt water, as on Long Island, where they 

 find shrimp and small fry, this may be in March. In fresh- 

 water ponds where there is much feed, as the larva of flies, 



