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



habits of the crappie. On a few occasions we have seen the 

 fish apparently paired off. We found what vj took to be the 

 nest of one pair in water from two to three feet deep. We 

 watched the old fish at different times. However, the water 

 about the spawning bed was deep and slightly roily and some- 

 times agitated by the wind, making it impossible to get satis- 

 factory observations. On two or three occasions we saw two 

 fish swimming over a depression in the ground some four to 

 six inches in depth that had been thoroughly cleaned. This 

 spot on the bottom of the pond, that had been freed from all 

 loose vegetation, with all soft mud and earth cleaned away, we 

 took for a spawning bed. 



One morning about nine o'clock, whei. the wind was quiet, 

 we watched two crappie over one of theSv3 spawning beds. We 

 were lying on the end of a plank that extended from the shore 

 about sixteen feet. The plank served as a sort of a gangway to 

 a wire that controlled a water pipe, and made a good place to 

 rest and watch the movements of the fish below on the bottom 

 of the pond. The two fish would swim around each other, and 

 at times they paralleled each other in their movements and ap- 

 parently stuck so close together, sw'^ming side by side, that 

 the two would seem to be but one iish. They would swim 

 around and around, side by side. Whether they were spawning 

 or not at this particular time we can not say, as it was not 

 possible to make correct observations. Three days later one 

 fish could be seen over the same spot, but the water was a 

 little roily and it was not possible to make good observations. 



The Young Fish. 



When the young crappie are hatched they are almost trans- 

 parent, and it is hardly possible to see them. When dipped up 

 on a piece of cheesecloth the eye seems to be the most promi- 

 nent part. We saw a number of schools of them this spring. 

 We used an opera glass in watching them and a hand magnify- 

 ing glass to examine them. They apparently go around in 

 bunches that sometimes get strung out several feet in length, 

 much the same as the schools of young bass. We found the 

 young fish when less than an inch in length scattered through 

 ihe water plants that grew in the ponds. While feeding among 

 the plants many of them would rise to the surface, apparently 

 attracted by small insects, such as certain kinds of gnats that 

 were hovering over the water. 



We found out this spring that the young crappie are weak 

 swimmers when they are from one-half of an inch to an inch 

 and a quarter in length. If there is very much current in the 

 water they will drift with the running water against the 

 screen gates that separate the ponds from each other. We 

 found it necessary to regulate the water so that it would flow 

 very slowly, or not flow at all, in the ponds where the young 



