FISHES OF THE CONNECTICUT LAKES. 27 



is not highly esteemed. When hooked it fights well for some time, 

 but yields somewhat more quickly than a trout. It will take bait, 

 troll, or fly. Brown or red flies are most attractive. That it is 

 not esteemed as food is due rather to lack of flavor than to a dis- 

 agreeable taste, and also because other more delectable fish usually 

 occur where the chub is caught. Thoreau says the " chub tastes 

 like brown paper salted." 



The breeding habits of the chub are very interesting. Along the 

 quiet reaches of streams or in the shallow waters of ponds or lakes, 

 peculiar heaps of fine gravel or pebbles have probably been noticed 

 by everyone traversing such places. These are the '' nests " of chubs. 

 Our attention was first called to this by notes furnished by Supt. 

 Charles G. Atkins, of the United States Bureau of Fisheries Station 

 at Craig Brook. ]Me., who very carefully recorded the nest-building 

 and spawning process, which description, so closely agreeing with 

 our subsequent observations, is given herewith, as is also a diagram- 

 matic illustration (pi. v). 



Mai/ S. JS7S. — A small male was seen standing over a hole at the lower end of 

 a heap of gravel 3 feet long by a foot wide, repeatedly driving off other chubs. 

 Later a large male came and drove away the little one, henceforth taking 

 charge of the nest. He was very vigilant, dashing immediately and furiously 

 at every approaching fish, just as landlocked salmon do. After a time he took 

 n pebble in his mouth from e and carried it to d, where he dropped it. By and 

 by a female came swiftly along, and right over ed was seen struggling in an 

 erect position; the male was close to her, but nothing more could be made out, 

 Then the female disappeared. No other fish than this one male remained over 

 the nest. 



May 9, 1878.— The same large male was on the nest, but near him over the 

 nest is another small one, which the large one did not this time molest, and 

 which appeared to be a male. The small one was seen to chase others, and 

 when the large one was absent, picked up stones, placing them on the heap; 

 but none of those that appeared to be females lifted a stone. At another time 

 the large male carried stones from about a and dropped them at c or d. His 

 regular stand was over &; sometimes lie would pick up stones at c or c' and 

 carry then up to c' or d; the little one doing the same thing, but sometimes he 

 would carry a stone no more than 2 inches upstream. Several times the large 

 one went up to g and returned with stones to d. During the observations he 

 was seen to make 15 or 20 trips to a gravel bed 6 or 8 feet distant on the 

 opposite side of the brook and take stones from it and return to his nest. 

 .Sometimes he would have but one stone, sometimes several small ones, and 

 rarely a mouth full of very fiue gravel mixed with sand. Once he took a stick 

 li or 4 inches long and laid it on his nest. He seemed often to eject the burden 

 from his mouth with considerable force ; but this appearance may have been 

 from his recoiling the moment he let go the stones. The females, as they were 

 supposed to be, came to the nest several times. In general there was a sudden 

 gathering of a number of fish from the immediate neighborhood, comprising all 

 the chubs within 5 or 6 feet or more, and a simultaneous rush for the nest, 

 where only a confused mass of struggling fish could be distinguished ; some of 

 them turned over so that the gleam of the side of their bellies was seen. The 

 old male was always there. 



