from high up in the dazzHng sunny sky. 

 Fax* above him, balancing: lilack turkey buz- 

 zards look down upon his back, and others 

 drift by low, near the tops of the trees. 

 A gray-lilue kingfisher, the same species 

 that fishes the northern streams in summer, 

 flies along the creek, and flocks of herons 

 and white ibises are squawking and grunt- 

 ing everywhere. A reddish serpent, l^ing 



where myriad swarms of little fishes are 

 drifting. About a half of these are Gam- 

 biisia, with only here and there a black- 

 spotted holbroo/ci. About a third are Fundu- 

 lus goodei, a wonderfully pretty little fish 

 with red fins and a bold lilack stripe the 

 length of the body. Fundulus chrysotus is 

 a beautiful green species, spotted with sil- 

 ver, golden or red; and there is Girardinus 





# 





-.^1 





Upper -GOODEI 



Center -GAMBUSIA 



Lower— JORDANELLA 



looped across a slimy patch of water-weed, 

 shoots into the dei)ths like a fish when I 

 strike at him with an oar. Here and there 

 great thick skinned spotted gar pikes ( Lepi- 

 xosteiiA-) are dozing just beneath the surface, 

 and several species of sunfish. as also the 

 large-mouthed bass {Mio-opterus xalmoides) , 

 are swimming restlessly about in the more 

 open water, making occasional predatory 

 rushes into the shallows along the shore 

 and among the clogging green weed which 

 here and there rises to the surface, and 



f'or7nosu.\\ a minute live-bearing species; 

 Ci/prinodou variagatus, the sheepshead min- 

 now of the north; Jordanella Jiorida', some- 

 thing the shape of the last, with usually a 

 squarish black spot on the side, and Fundulus 

 ocellaris, with a black spot on the back fin. 



The most northern fresh water fishes 

 known are two salmon fish which still occur 

 in latitude 82° N. in Grant Land, less than 

 r)0{) miles from the i)ole. 



31 



