XXVI. The Reservoir Pond 



This is the pond near the western margin of the Golf Links, 

 near the woodland. The water is shallow and warm, and the 

 habitat of many interesting insects and small aquatic animals. 

 The margin of the pond is fringed with typical swamp plants, 

 arrowleaf, cattail, sedges, willows, etc., and in the pond itself 

 is a number of aquatic plants. Such birds as the killdeer, 

 spotted sandpiper, green heron, and great blue heron, frequent 

 the pond. The region abounds with life. 



One of the most interesting groups of aquatic animals, 

 abundant in ponds, are the water-inhabiting insects. These 

 are abundant; they represent many diverse families and types 

 of insects; they vary greatly in their food habits and life cycles; 

 some of them pass their entire existence under the water, and 

 others are aquatic only for a short season. These aquatic 

 forms are particularly useful for the school aquarium; they 

 can endure more unfavorable conditions than the fishes and 

 tadpoles; and the stock is the more easily replenished. 



The field work on aquatic insects is confined largely to 

 studies of habitat and collecting. Detailed observations of 

 structure, habits, life cycle, etc., can be made most satisfactorily 

 in the aquarium. The following are aquatic insects that occur 

 plentifully in the Chautauqua Pond: 



Dragonfly, damsel fly, whirling beetle, water-spider, water- 

 strider, back-swimmer, water-boatman, diving beetle, larvae 

 of gnats, midges, lake-fly, and mosquitoes. 



Outline : 



1. The zones of vegetation that surround and fringe the pond. 



2. The various plants that live within the pond itself. 



3. Frogs and salamanders, including early stages. 



4. The " water " snakes. 



5. The birds that frequent the pond and its vicinity. 



6. The muskrat; (the beaver, a fascinating story). 



7. The drainage basin of the pond; inlet and QUtlet. 



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