44 FAMILIAR FISH, THEIR HABITS AND CAPTURE 



greedily at almost anything. Small snakes, rats, 

 and pieces of vegetables have been found in their 

 stomachs. 



The black bass watch over their young fish until 

 after they have passed the fry stage, and will attack 

 savagely any other fish approaching. Later on, these 

 young fish furnish food for larger bass, probably for 

 their own progenitors as well. 



Because they are distributed so generally over the 

 country, black bass have received a multiplicity of 

 local names, especially in the South. The large- 

 mouth is frequently known as the Oswego bass, lake 

 bass, green bass, yellow bass, moss bass, bayou bass, 

 trout, jumper, and chub. The small-mouth is desig- 

 nated as lake bass, brown bass, ninny bass, hog bass, 

 black perch, trout perch, brown perch, and jumper. 



With the exception of the ouananiche, the black 

 bass is the gamest and hardest fighter of all fresh- 

 water fishes. JSTo matter by what method it is 

 caught, it makes a very hard struggle for life. 

 Owing to their hard, long-continued fighting, a large 

 number of those hooked are lost, even with the most 

 delicate handling by the most expert fishermen. 



There seems to be a variety of opinion in regard 

 to the respective fighting qualities of the small- and 

 large-mouth bass, many fishermen claiming that they 

 should be placed on an equality. This may be true 



