Habits of the Bliiegill 



317 



their weight taken. The remainder of the nest would be drained and 

 weighed in the same manner and the total number of young in the nest 

 calculated. 



From the four nests counted the following figures were obtained: 

 11,257; 30,374; 80,000; and 224,900, these representing the maximum 

 and minimum sized nests. The average for these four nests is 86,631. 

 According to this average, for the year 1923 in which 2,398 nests were 

 counted, 207,751,138 young bluegills should have been hatched. If a 

 single female laid in each nest this would mean that there are 2,400 

 mature egg-laying females in the lake. With an equal ratio between 



m 



iro 



1^ 22 



f!H 



Bl 



fza 



ES 



Fig. 2. Same as figure 1, except that it is for 1922. 



males and females there should be a total of 4,800 adult bluegills in 

 the lake. This assumption of the equal ratio between males and fe- 

 males is used because in all hook and line catches as well as net catches 

 the sexes were about equally divided. These figures are undoubtedly 

 too low and there may be two plausible ex]3lanations. A number of 

 females may lay in a single nest at one time for it is known that an 

 individual male of the sunfish, Eupomotis gibbosus, has reared in a 

 single nest two broods laid at different times by two females. While 

 spawning the female darts rapidly to and fro over the nest making it 

 impossible to keep her under observation all the time and to determine 

 .vhether or not several females are laying in a single nest. 



