NATURE'S CALENDAR 



proach of an enemy would dart off like 

 a flash in pursuit of the intruder. 



" When no danger was near, and after 

 the bed had been covered with spawn, the 

 female would stand sentry until the male 

 had passed over the eggs, and then both 

 would proceed up the stream from four 

 to ten feet or more, and taking a small 

 pebble in their mouths would quickly re- 

 turn and deposit them on the fecundated 

 eggs. Sometimes but one fish would go 

 for pebbles, the other lingering near. 

 Thus layer . after layer of impregnated 

 eggs and pebbles were deposited, one 

 upon the other. . . . The covering of the 

 eggs retained them in their place, and at 

 the same time protected them from be- 

 ing destroyed by other fishes, who were 

 constantly hovering about, like vultures, 

 watching an opportunity to devour them, 

 while the interstices between the pebbles 

 gave sufficient space to harbor the little 

 fry as soon as hatched." 



June is the time when the bull-heads 

 or smaller catfish of our ponds and 

 streams deposit their ova. This they do 

 in tunnel-like holes in the mud, as long 

 as one's arm, having a chamber at the 

 interior end in which the glutinous mass 

 of eggs is laid, and where they are care- 

 fully guarded by the mother for a month 

 or so, until they hatch, and she is able to 

 lead the brood forth and teach them the 

 ways of their world. 



Another breeding-fish of this season is 



