THE YELLOW BASS AND OTHER BOYS' FISHES. 425 



averse to warm water or even mud. Young Crappies run by 

 thousands into the muddy bayous, and when these ponds and 

 sloughs dry up in the summer, multitudes of these little fishes, 

 with the young of the Large-mouthed Black Bass and others, 

 are left to die. 



The Crappie is known by a variety of other names, at dif- 

 ferent localities within its range. In the Ohio River it is 

 "Bachelor," and sometimes "New Light," or "Campbellite," 

 its advent in certain rivers of Kentucky being reputed to be 

 coincident with the preaching of Alexander Campbell. " Bride 

 Perch" and "Chinquapin Perch" are meaningless names 

 heard on the Mississippi River. Tin-mouth is another name 

 with some shade of appropriateness, while about New 

 Orleans is heard the inexplicable appellation of "Sac-a-lait," 

 also freely applied to the larger Killi-fishes. Of these names 

 Crappie is to be preferred, because it is most widely used, 

 and because it belongs to no other fish. 



The Crappie feeds on small fishes and crustaceans. It 

 takes very kindly to life in ponds and with the Calico Bass 

 and the Rock-Bass, it is one of the species best adapted for 

 the stocking of ponds. 



Professor Goode quotes from "St. Louis," in the Ameri- 

 can Angler, the following account of Crappie-fishing near St. 

 Louis: 



"Our 'Crappie,' the greatest pan-fish of the West, is highly 

 esteemed by us for the table. We have seen a monster 

 Crappie this spring, weighing over three pounds, taken at 

 Murdock Club Lake, near St. Louis, on the Illinois side. 

 We consider one of one-and-a-half to two pounds a large 

 one. They are taken about logs and tree-tops, on the water's 

 edge in our rivers and sloughs. They are greedy fellows, 

 but as soon as hooked, step right into the boat without a 

 struggle for liberty. 



"A gentleman of this place, a member of one of our old 

 French families, who turned the scale at about three-hundred 



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