james] SOME HABITS OF THE CARP 319 



Some fish like to be alone (especially the large ones) and some 

 go in groups. When in groups they go along in a line, single file. 

 They patrol back and forth for a distance of one hundred or more 

 feet ; first on one side of the stream and then on the other. They 

 seem to make the rounds at quite regular intervals, about every 

 forty-five minutes. It is always easy to tell when they are going 

 to come along, if you are lying along the bank with head down close 

 to the water because the little minnows which are always about go 

 in front of the large fish. These minnows come along in great 

 numbers for a minute or so, then they all disappear upstream or 

 hide along the bank; then in about four minutes, looking down 

 stream about forty feet away you see the string of large fish coming 

 along. They come in a line containing from nine to sixteen fishes. 

 They do not feed much but just seem to be patrolling. I have fed 

 them but they do not care for food until afternoon, tho one fish 

 now and then will leave his place in the line and take a piece of 

 dough which I have thrown in. The small minnows and turtles 

 usually eat it up because the carp will not touch it. 



About noon they become quiet again and swim lazily in the 

 shade of willows and of the banks. But at one o'clock they 

 become very lively and hungry. From one to five they are ex- 

 tremely busy getting food. Some of the reasons why they like to 

 feed most then are : the wind comes up then and in doing so it 

 ripples the surface of the water making the fish hard to see; it 

 sways the trees more or less and blows worms and insects off the 

 leaves of the trees into the water below, and when the wind is so 

 blowing many insects, gnats, flies, etc., flying above the surface of 

 the water are blown down into it. 



During this part of the afternoon one can hear many peculiar 

 noises along the stream under the overhanging trees and weeds 

 and along the bank among the cat-tails. When sitting there or even 

 walking by, one hears many popping sounds that go "smack." 

 They puzzled me for some time. At first I thought this "pop" was 

 made by mud-hens, but I found out it was produced by the feeding 

 carp. I was quite close to the water one day beneath the shade of 

 a willow and the water was covered almost entirely with willow 

 leaves. I had been hearing those smacks up- and downstream 

 and was then watching between the willow leaves floating on the 

 water, several large carp. One big fish came up toward the surface 

 and put his mouth on the under side of a willow leaf and sucked it in ; 



