Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 407 



less as if the fight were given up. Any sort of small bait will 

 answer but there is nothing else so good as the common angle- 

 worm. 



As a pan-fish the Pumpkin-seed has no superior, and the mature 

 roe nicely browned is a tidbit that is not easily excelled. 



The food of the Pumpkin-seed is nearly the same as that of the 

 other sunfishes. During the spring of 1901, the principal food 

 was Asellus the common isopod crustacean of the- lake. They 

 fed pretty largely also on small thin-shelled snails. Some con- 

 tained minnows and darters. The stomach of one 7.5 inches long 

 and weighing 5.75 oz. caught at the Weedpatch September 12, 

 1907, contained two leeches, fragments of Physa, a thin operculum 

 of some snail and one Pisidium. An example 2.5 inches long 

 caught August 3, 1906, contained what seemed to be fragments of 

 a freshwater sponge, the sponge spicules being abundant ; another 

 2.75 inches long contained insect larvae, 2 ostracods (Cypris) and 

 1 water mite; another 3 inches long contained the opercle of a 

 snail and a very small crawfish. Among other food elements (in 

 early spring of 1901) were dragon-fly larva?, minnows and one 

 darter. 



This species begins nesting early in June and continues nesting 

 throughout the summer. Several nests were found in Lost Lake 

 June 12. They were first found near the shore south of the 

 Bardsley cottage and later others were found among those of the 

 bluegills at the north end of the lake. Those near the shore were 

 shallow, bowl-shaped affairs, worn out of the fibrous turfy bottom 

 and containing no shells, pebbles or anything foreign or trans- 

 ported. They contained great numbers of small clear eggs which 

 appeared to stick fast to the fibres projecting from the bottom of 

 the nest. The fish behaves much as the bluegill, fanning the water 

 over the eggs with its fins, and chasing away intruders. They are 

 braver than the bluegill, do not nest so closely together, and do not 

 flee at the approach of a boat. 



Somewhat later, nests were found in the Outlet, just west of the 

 railroad bridge and in Lake Maxinkuckee. On June 23, two small 

 nests with the parent fish on were noted in the Outlet, and nests 

 were still noted in July in the big lake. In these latter locations 

 the nest consisted of a bowl-shaped depression scooped out of 

 the sand. 



On account of its bravery while on the nest, the breeding habits 

 of this fish can be studied to good advantage. On July 7, 1901, 

 the actions of the parent fish at a nest at the head of the Outlet 



