BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 359 



up-stream, and no puddle is too small for him, provided 

 it always holds water. They have no more fancy for a 

 sun-bath than the preceding. Where I have found 

 them in greatest abundance, is in a little shallow just off 

 the main channel of the smaller creek I have mentioned 

 in a foregoing page. There is here a muddy bottom, 

 with a thin superstratum of fine sand upon it. No per- 

 ceptible current flows over it, and the little darters, faint- 

 ly marking the sand whenever they come to a rest, can 

 be tracked by these little impressions. Here I have seen 

 hundreds of them quietly resting on their leg-like fins 

 and waiting, not for something to turn up, but to come 

 near, when they are up and at it. They do not, how- 

 ever, depend on such a slim chance for a sufficiency of 

 food, as they are as carnivorous as crocodiles and have 

 the digestion of an ostrich. Their predilection for these 

 quiet, watery by-ways seems to be brought about by the 

 habits of other animals, which, bringing their food to 

 these retreats to enjoy it at leisure, always leave innu- 

 merable fragments for the benefit of the darters. In- 

 deed, these fish do not wait always for the crumbs that 

 may fall from some mightier creature's table, as I have 

 often seen them crowd around some happy turtle that 

 had brought a fish or fragment of flesh to this shallow in 

 order to dine in peace. The little darters, however, did 

 not wait to be invited, but, standing at the other end of 

 the fish or flesh, would give it little tugs and nips while 

 the turtle was busily engaged in biting off larger mouth- 

 fuls. These darters are the most persistent egg-hunters 

 anywhere to be found, and, in spite of the vigilance of 

 the parent fish, will dart in and out and swallow the eggs 

 that have been laid and placed with so much care. Many 

 fishes so place their eggs that they are not accessible to 

 the darters ; but when laid in the sand, as the sunfish do, 



