Spawning Time. 327 



as they descend after the leap into the air may be 

 heard in several directions at once, and the glint of 

 their silvery sides in the sunshine is at the same time 

 visible. At night it is clear the same thing is going 

 forward, for the splashing continues, though the. wave 

 raised by the panic-stricken crowds cannot be distin- 

 guished in the darkness. 



It is curious to notice how the solitary disposition 

 of the jack shows itself almost as soon as he comes 

 to life. While the fry of most other fish swim in 

 shoals, sometimes in countless numbers, the tin}' jack, 

 hardly so long as one's little finger, lurks all alone 

 behind a stone which forms a miniature harbor. On a 

 warm day almost every such place has its youthful 

 pirate. Notwithstanding the terror of the roach 

 when pursued, they will play about apparently with- 

 out the slightest fear when the pike is basking in the 

 sun with his back all but on a level with the surface 

 that is, when the lake is at its ordinary height. 

 It is as if they knew their tyrant was enjoying his 

 siesta. 



These roach literally swarm. At their spawning 

 time that part of the lake the shore of which is stony 

 is positively black with them. For a distance of some 

 hundred and fifty yards the water for seven or eight 

 feet from shore is simply a moving mass of roach. 

 They crowd up against the stones, get underneath 

 them and behind them, enter every little creek and 

 interstice, and are so jammed by their own numbers 

 that they may easily be caught by hand. In their 

 anxiety to secure a place they crush against each 

 other and splash up the water. This impulse only 

 lasts a day or two in its full vigor, when the multi- 

 tude gradually retires into deeper water. 



