NATURE'S CALENDAR 63 



finest sort of tackle ; they say it is capital April o 

 fun. 



The males of many of these small fishes 

 develop special colors and appendages 

 this month, indicative of the breeding- 

 season, and lasting several weeks. Thus 

 male chubs become rosy, and sometimes 

 horny spines appear on their heads, 

 whence the name horned dace, by which 

 they are frequently known. Other min- 

 nows are gorgeous during April and May. 



Another sort of fish that protects its 

 nest is the bass, a name that includes a 

 great variety of fishes, some of which 

 ought not to be so called. But the two 

 sorts of black bass, and the rock or striped 

 bass, are true ones, and among the finest. 

 They do not begin to spawn in northern 

 rivers until later, but in warm southern 

 rivers they are now making nests by fan- 

 ning away the surface mud with their 

 fins until a clean, bowl-like receptacle is 

 formed, where the spawn is deposited and 

 then is jealously guarded. For this pur- 

 pose a gravelly spot is chosen, from which 

 the slimy surface is removed, that the 

 eggs may have clean pebbles to stick to, 

 and thus not be drifted away with the 

 current. They hatch in eight or ten days, 

 during which time the female poises her- 

 self above them and protects them to the 

 best of her ability. 



These and the striped bass of southern 

 estuaries are themselves, however, no re- 

 specters of the rights of others. They 



