FISHES. 25 



springs furiously at the hand, and is easily- 

 seized. 



Mr. Audubon has described, in his peculiarly 

 graphic style, the nest-making habits and pa- 

 rental devotedness of a fish found in the rivers 

 of North America, which he calls the Sunny, or 

 Sun-perch, but which appears to be a small 

 species of Lahrus. 



" The Sun-perch seems to give a decided pre- 

 ference to sandy, gravelly, or rocky beds of 

 streams, avoiding those of which the bottom is 

 muddy. At the period of depositing their eggs, 

 this preference is still more apparent. The little 

 creature is then seen swimming rapidly over 

 shallows, the bed of which is mostly formed of 

 fine gravel, when, after a while, it is observed to 

 poise itself, and gradually sink to the bottom, 

 where, with its fins, it pushes aside the sand to 

 the extent of eight or ten inches, thus forming a 

 circular cavity. In a few days, a little ridge is 

 thus raised around, and in the cleared area the 

 roe is deposited. By wading carefully over the 

 extent of the place, a person may count forty, 

 fifty, or more of these beds, some within a few 

 feet of each other, and some several yards apart. 

 Instead of abandoning its spawn, as others of the 

 family are wont to do, this little fish keeps guard 

 over it with all the care of a sitting bird. You 

 observe it poised over the bed, watching the ob- 

 jects around. Should the rotten leaf of a tree, 

 a piece of wood, or any other substance happen to 

 be rolled over the border of the bed, the Sun-fish 

 carefully removes it, holding the obnoxious matter 

 in its mouth, and dropping it over the margin. 

 Having many times witnessed this act of pru- 



