66 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



youthful fisherman would hasten home, proud of his splendid 

 catch. His torn and muddy clothes, scratched hands and sore 

 feet, and the many fish stories that followed each other in 

 quick succession, all went to show that he had not only been 

 fishing, but that he had had "one of the times" of his life. After 

 all the members of the family had expressed their doubtful 

 admiration for the fish and had complimented the fisherman, 

 not forgetting to mention his good luck and the general ap- 

 pearance of his belongings, the string of fish that had been 

 dragged along through weed patches and over dusty roads 

 until they were half dry were thrown into a pan of cool 

 well-water and refreshed. With a "Barlow" knife and an al- 

 most exhausted supply of patience, an unhappy hour was 

 spent in most uninteresting labor in attempting to clean those 

 most unfortunate fish. It was a rule of the house that each 

 fisherman must clean his catch of fish. When rolled in flour 

 and fine meal and fried in hot butter or ham fat to a crisp 

 brown those same "sunnies," though small and with more or 

 less bones in them, were simply delicious, and in the judgment 

 of a boy fisherman of those by-gone days there were no better 

 fish in the whole wide world. 



Many such fishing incidents as the above took place when 

 the writer was a boy. Since that time he has become a "grown- 

 up," but still enjoys taking a day off semioccasionally to "go 

 a-fishing" for "sunnies." He still loves to catch these fish, 

 and when the little "sunnies" are properly dressed and cooked 

 he is still of the opinion that they have few, if any, superiors 

 as a delicate, sweet-tasting table fish. 



LAKE VIEW SUNFISH. 



For thirty-four years the writer has been connected in one 

 capacity or another with the Department of Zoology at the 

 State University, and for thirty-four years he has been going 

 to Lake View to fish and get material for the University 

 Zoological laboratories. This lake, five miles northwest of 

 Lawrence, is part of an old, deserted bed of the Kansas river, 

 and ordinarily covers from one hundred and fifty to two 

 hundred acres of territory with water. 



While there were places in the lake that were from ten 

 to twenty feet deep, there was also a great deal of shallow 

 water from one to four feet in depth that furnished an abun- 

 dance of aquatic vegetation and the best of breeding and 

 feeding grounds for sunfish. There were also acres and acres 

 of water lilies or lotus (var. Nelumbo luteo) . These splendid 

 lilies grew in great profusion and covered nearly one-half of 

 the water's surface with their fine, large leaves; and during 

 that part of the year when the plants were putting forth 

 flowers it was possible to see a flower garden with one hun- 

 dred acres of beautiful, large, cream-like lily blossoms as 

 large as saucers or small plates. The great flood of 1903 



