22 HOME FISHING AND HOME WATERS. 



seven or eight inches deep. After the spawn is de- 

 posited, the water is fanned with the tail and fins, 

 and the dirt kept away from it. The eggs hatch in 

 about five days, late in June, or early in July. When 

 the fry are hatched, they lie around a few days, until 

 they gain strength to follow their mother. The 

 parent fish then cares for them, and teaches them to 

 feed just as a hen does her chicks, until the little fish 

 are about four weeks old. By that time they have 

 learned to feed, and are able to take care of them- 

 selves. Bull-heads do not thrive well in small ponds, 

 unless they are well fed and caught out. They are 

 such prolific breeders that the pond rapidly fills with 

 them, and they cannot get enough to eat. I have 

 seen them in a pond containing an acre or two, 

 where they were nearly all head, and in a starved 

 condition, so that they never grew over seven or 

 eight inches in length. They are unlike many other 

 fish, and do not live on their young; consequently 

 they starve where other fish would thrive on the 

 principle of the " survival of the fittest." 



If the mother fish should be caught or killed, be- 

 fore the young are taught to feed, they would be 

 almost sure to die. Fishermen sometimes find the 

 holes which are occupied by the old fish and her 

 brood, and both parents are speared ; in such cases, 

 the young fry lie about the mouth of the hole and 

 die. They rarely exceed a pound in weight in most 

 waters, but there are varieties in some waters that I 

 have known, where they sometimes grow to weigh 

 two pounds. The bull-head is often confounded 

 with the cat-fish, but it is a different fish. They 

 are quite readily distinguished by their tails. The 



