64 NATURE'S CALENDAR 



April 10 P^^y havoc with everjahing not able to 



defend itself, and gorge themselves on 

 the small fry. Similar in habits at this 

 season are the white and the yellow bass 

 of the interior waters, and also the fine 

 little white perch of the southern tidal 

 estuaries, which in these vigorous spring 

 days follows and greedily feeds upon the 

 hordes of young eels that now throng at 

 the foot of every rapid or dam obstruct- 

 ing their passage up the streams. 



Another set of fishes destructive at 

 this season — ogres of dreadful mien to 

 the shiners and killifishes, and even to 

 larger folk of the river-bed — are the cat- 

 fishes. They abound in all the fresh 

 waters of the country east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and are easily classified at a 

 glance by their blackish, leathery skins. 

 big heads, ravenous mouths, and ugly bar- 

 bels. Some of them, in sluggish southern 

 rivers, reach a weight of one hundred and 

 fifty pounds, but most of the species are 

 small. All these siluroid fishes, from the 

 little bull-head to the huge channel cat, 

 are voracious feeders, and not at all nice 

 in their tastes, greedily devouring any 

 animal substance, living or dead, that 

 they can seize, and frequenting the foulest 

 water as well as streams that are sweet 

 and clear. They keep close to the bot- 

 tom, and deposit their spawn in the early 

 spring. A far nobler spring breeder is the 

 handsome, agile, blood-thirsty pickerel. 

 These are entertaining episodes in 



