FISHES OF THE CONNECTICUT LAKES. 27 
is not highly esteemed. When hooked it fights well for some time, 
but yields somewhat more quickly than a trout. It will take bait, 
troll, or fly. Brown or red flies are most attractive. That it is 
not esteemed as food is due rather to lack of flavor than to a dis- 
agreeable taste, and also because other more delectable fish usually 
occur where the chub is caught. Thoreau says the “chub tastes 
like brown paper salted.” 
The breeding habits of the chub are very interesting. Along the 
quiet reaches of streams or in the shallow waters of ponds or lakes, 
peculiar heaps of fine gravel or pebbles have probably been noticed 
by everyone traversing such places. These are the “ nests ” of chubs. 
Our attention was first called to this by notes furnished by Supt. 
Charles G. Atkins, of the United States Bureau of Fisheries Station 
at Craig Brook, Me., who very carefully recorded the nest-building 
and spawning process, which description, so closely agreeing with 
our subsequent observations, is given herewith, as is also a diagram- 
matic illustration (pl. v). 
May 8, 1878.—A small male was seen standing over a hole at the lower end of 
a heap of gravel 3 feet long by a foot wide, repeatedly driving off other chubs. 
Later a large male came and drove away the little one, henceforth taking 
charge of the nest. He was very vigilant, dashing immediately and furiously 
at every approaching fish, just as landlocked salmon do. After a time he took 
a pebble in his mouth from e and carried it to d, where he dropped it. By and 
by a female came swiftly along, and right over ed was seen struggling in an 
erect position; the male was close to her, but nothing more could be made out, 
Then the female disappeared. No other fish than this one male remained over 
the nest. : 
May 9, 1878.—The same large male was on the nest, but near him over the 
nest is another small one, which the large one did not this time molest, and 
‘which appeared to be a male. The small one was seen to chase others, and 
when the large one was absent, picked up stones, placing them on the heap; 
but none of those that appeared to be females lifted a stone. At another time 
the large male carried stones from about @ and dropped them at e or d. His 
regular stand was over 0; sometimes he would pick up stones at ¢ or c’ and 
carry then up to c’ or d; the little one doing the same thing, but sometimes he 
would carry a stone no more than 2 inches upstream. Several times the large 
one went up to g and returned with stones to d. During the observations he 
was seen to make 15 or 20 trips to a gravel bed 6 or 8 feet distant on the 
opposite side of the brook and take stones from it and return to his nest. 
Sometimes he would have but one stone, Sometimes several small ones, and 
rarely a mouth full of very fine gravel mixed with sand. Once he took a stick 
3 or 4 inches long and laid it on his nest. He seemed often to eject the burden 
from his mouth with considerable force; but this appearance may have been 
from his recoiling the moment he let go the stones. The females, as they were 
supposed to be, came to the nest several times. In general there was a sudden 
gathering of a number of fish from the immediate neighborhood, comprising all 
the chubs within 5 or 6 feet or more, and a simultaneous rush for the nest, 
where only a confused mass of struggling fish could be distinguished; some of 
them turned over so that the gleam of the side of their bellies was seen. The 
old male was always there. 
