410 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



they are few and far between. In other brooks, four or 

 five miles away, however, I find them in great abundance, 

 and I often linger long by the babbling waters of the 

 Shabbaconk, for no other reason than to watch the gam- 

 bols of these cyprinoids, gorgeous in crimson and gold. 

 Unlike most of this family of fishes, the male red-fins 

 only present a brilliant coloring, and this they retain 

 throughout the year. The difference during the breeding- 

 season, from other times of the year, is in the greater 

 prominence of the little tubercles that thickly dot their 

 heads and upper jaw. These prickles are, in themselves, 

 of no beauty, and rather mar the general appearance of 

 the fish. Although prominent during the breeding-sea- 

 son, it is very questionable if their purpose is solely to 

 render their possessors more attractive in the eyes of the 

 females, as is evidently the case with bright coloring. 

 "When we know all about these prickles, their purpose 

 will, in all probability, be found to have nothing to do 

 with sexual attractiveness. 



Red-fins are social the year through, and are seldom 

 seen except in schools. Unlike the commoner roach, 

 these fish separate in May, and for a while females will 

 be found in certain portions of a brook and males in an- 

 other. My attention was first called to this many years 

 ago, when I noticed, in shallow, rippling waters, hundreds 

 of male red-fins closely associated. The spot was fairly 

 purpled with their ruddy sides and fins gleaming in the 

 water. They filled a little basin in the brook, and showed 

 no disposition to leave. Being disturbed, they passed but 

 a short distance down the stream and resumed their close- 

 ly associated positions. There were probably a hundred 

 or more, and so close together did they keep that a space 

 not over two feet in diameter contained them all. Not 

 a female fish was among them. But they had been there, 



