48 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



FIG. 28. The pike. 



other dwellers in the stream are restricted to the shoals and 

 to the shelter of rocks or of vegetation. Certain of them like 

 the pike (fig. 28) are specialized for feeding at the surface: 

 others, like the sucker (fig. 29), for feeding at the bottom; 

 and the mouth is turned up or down accordingly. The best 

 of them are carnivorous and eat habitually other smaller 

 fishes. The rock bass seems to prefer crawfishes as food. 

 Most of them eat the larvae of may-flies and midges, though 

 the pikes demand bigger game. The sheepshead eats mol- 

 luscs, crushing the shells with its flat-topped molarlike teeth. 

 Fishes are among the most beautiful of living things. 

 Their colors are splendid. Their motions are all easy and 

 graceful. Their habits are most interesting and varied. 

 Nearly all the common forms are included in six or seven 

 families: the catfishes, the trout s, the pikes (including the 

 pickerel), the suckers, the minnows (including the huge carp), 

 the perches, and the sunfishes (including the basses) . It is the 

 purpose of the following study to promote acquaintance with 

 some of these. 



Study 5. Creek Fishes 



A representative lot of a dozen or more of the larger com- 

 mon fishes should be available for this exercise. It were 

 better to have most of them collected in advance and kept 

 alive for examination. A seine may be drawn, or traps taken 

 up, as a part of the exercise, but often there are uncertainties 



