356 Ixoosczrit l\-tld Life Annals 



Breeding Habits and Life Ilistin-y. This fish appears to breed entirely in 

 streams, in spring and early summer. Hankinson ('08, p. 206) found them spawn- 

 ing in June, in the outlet of Walnut Lake, Michigan. Reighard ('15, p. 228) 

 says that according to his observations the species breeds only in running water on 

 gravel bottom. Forbes and Richardson ('09, p. 148) give May and June as the 

 spawning time in Illinois. Tracy ('10, p. 68) states that it spawns in the spring 

 and early summer in Rhode Island, while Kendall and Goldsborough ('08, p. 31 j, 

 with reference to the Connecticut Lakes, say, "Its breeding time is in the spring 

 or early summer according to the temperature of the water. At this time the male 

 assumes a beautiful coloration, the fins broadly margined with bright red. the 

 back an irridescent blue, and the sides reflecting all the hues of the rainl)Ow. A 

 more lieautiful minnow can scarcely l)e conceived. The head of the male at this 

 time bears conical, horny tubercles or excrescences, whence the names "horny- 

 head* and 'buckfish.' The spawning process is interesting. A small school 

 assembles on a fine gravelly shoal where the water runs >wiftly but smoothly just 

 above a riftle. A hollow is formed in the gravel, where the eggs are dept)sited, 

 to be fertilized by the male or males in attendance. In the one instance observed 

 there was only one male present." Greeley ('27, p. 59) mentions a single male 

 with several spawning females. The nest was a depression a foot in diameter 

 and two inches deep, with stones "the size of a hickory nut and an occasional 

 stone the size of an egg." The data were obtained by Dr. G. C. lunbody and 

 W. J. Hamilton, Jr. 



Fowler ('09, p. 540) writes: "'J1ie redfin l:as an interesting habit of resorting 

 to clear shallows in the spawning season, which occurs about Philadelphia from 

 late April to early summer. Schools of probably several hundred of the brilliantly 

 colored males may be found, closely packed together as a mass of crimson and 

 purple in these places. The females did not seem to take part in these gatherings, 

 or at least I was unalile to identify any in the several schools captured, h'roni this 

 it appears that they precede the males to the spawning grounds. .Sometimes the 

 males are herded in clear riffles, but usually where there is a sandy or clear, pebble 

 bottom. The females, besides being paler in color, lack the tubercles usually." 

 Hankinson ("20, p. 8) noted the spawning activities of this species in the Galien 

 River, June 3, 1919. A large male would maintain a certain position over a pile 

 of cleaned stones which was being piled up by a Horned Dace. Now cuid then 

 he would swim out into a school of females and forcibly apply the side of his bodv 

 to the side of one of these smaller and less gaudy individuals, holding the contact 

 for but an instant. The sjiawning act was very similar to that found by Reighard 

 in the Horned Dace (Reighard, "lo, p. 1131). Two large males in breeding colors 

 (No. 460) were caught by us in I '.lack Creek at Cleveland, on Oneida Lake. 

 June 27. i<,i6. 



Ilahilal. 'I'lie Shiner i> .-i stri'ani ti>li and it was nut snr|. rising that we f.nmd 

 few ill Oneida Lake. It |ircfrrs pools in ile;ir. r;i|ml streams. .-iikI nsn;illy these 

 did lint ,.ccur near the iiK.iitlis nl creeks, where we did most of our netting. ,\t 

 North I'.av. however, we explored .'i slre.uu lor a little distance, and louii.l pools 

 where these shiners were common. We took eleven s]iecimens (No. .Si)3). 



