Crayfish 

 (From Photograph by B. A. Bensley) 



CHAPTER III. 

 FOOD. 



THE food of the black bass, although dependent on 

 locality, is limited in extent, and consists chiefly of 



' live minnows and crayfish. An examination of its 

 stomach, after capture, will show that, in the majority of 

 cases, it has been subsisting on these two articles of diet, 

 intermingled sometimes with several minute forms of life 

 which apparently do not supply a very large proportion of 

 its nourishment. 



Although it prefers the young of the herring, small chub, 

 shiners, or any of those minnows which have comparatively 

 small scales and are therefore both palatable and soon assimi- 

 lated; yet, occasionally one may find in its stomach a small 

 perch, perhaps three or four inches in length. Owing, how- 

 ever, to the peculiar structure of this fish, with its large back 

 fin and heavy scales, it does not seem to be either easily 

 swallowed or quickly digested by the bass, and probably is 

 only taken as a last resort. 



14 



