MINNOWS FOR GAME-FISH FOOD 17 



planted they at once make themselves at home in 

 a new environment and very soon begin to breed, 

 even if the temperature and water is different 

 from their natural habitat. Some species are 

 viviparous and sometimes produce six broods of 

 young in one season. If hungry, the mother de- 

 vours her own young as rapidly as they are born. 

 The young at the time of birth, while very small, 

 are vigorous, coming into the world with an 

 appetite well prepared to enter upon an indepen- 

 dent career, and soon make rapid growth; indeed 

 such is the extreme prolificness of some species 

 that they begin to breed before they are four 

 months old. 



These few of the many interesting facts that 

 could be quoted are enough to show that either 

 indifference or ignorance is the only reason why 

 many game-fish waters are almost entirely void 

 of this valuable species of fish food. Minnows 

 may be easily collected in their favorite haunts 

 of small brooks and ditches with small, fine- 

 meshed seines, then transferred to 10-gallon milk 

 cans, by which means they could be shipped and 

 introduced into the lakes and streams where game- 

 fish are most abundant. In lakes and rivers of 

 large extent, where big fish, like muskellunge 



