Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 163 



collecting birds for the Kansas University Museum. The tail 

 of the fish was plainly visible in the mouth and throat of the 

 duck when the bird was picked up. The fish was so long that it 

 could not be completely swallowed. 



Mud Hens. 



There are usually a good many mud hens on the ponds, espe- 

 cially during the spring and fall or migratory season, but we 

 have never found fish in the food contents of their stomachs, 

 and we have opened up a great many specimens. These birds 

 do damage, however, in the spring by puddling around the 

 shores in places where fish spawn. Common wild ducks also 

 bother us a good deal in the spring of the year by puddling 

 along the shores of the ponds and in the shallow water where 

 fish, especially the Black bass, are accustomed to make tb.pir 

 spawning beds. 



Grebes, Gulls and Terns. 



The common grebes, dab chicks or hell-divers that frequent 

 the ponds in this locality seldom catch fish, as shown by the 

 examination of the contents of the stomachs of many speci- 

 mens. Other birds, such as the gulls and terns, take a few 

 fish during their migrating season, but as a rule do no great 

 damage. However, the terns have bothered us by taking a 

 good many small fish, especially at times when we lower the 

 water in the ponds for the purpose of removing the fish. 



The terns got so bold that they would fly within a few feet 

 of us while we were working and pick up the small fish. They 

 would carry them a few rods in their bills, when they would 

 drop the fish and return for more. The fish dropped were 

 found to have been pinched by the birds' mandibles until some 

 of them were nearly cut in two pieces. The terns would some- 

 times fly so very near as to grab the fish that had been cor- 

 ralled by the minnow seines that were being used to catch 

 them. The men handling the seine struck at the birds with the 

 hand nets that they were using, and threw mud, sticks and 

 bunches of wet moss at them. Most of these bold marauders 

 could be scared away by shooting, but it became absolutely nec- 

 essary to kill some of the most impudent before their depreda- 

 tions could be stopped. 



Enemies of Fish. Mammals. 

 The Muskrat. 



The muskrat is considered by some to be an enemy of fish. 

 It is pretty generally understood now among scientific men 

 that the muskrat does not eat any kind of flesh except the meat 

 of the clam. They sometimes dig up clams, carry them to an 

 old log, and are supposed to pull or break the shell open near its 

 edge with their teeth and eat a portion of the body of the 



