BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 375 



Occasionally the allied blue sunfish, or "copper- 

 nosed bream," has been found in the Delaware. The 

 first of these I found in 1874, and since then I have seen 

 but two, until last August (1881), when one was caught 

 in Crosswicks Creek. Somehow, through the canals or 

 otherwise, these fish have reached our river valley. Here 

 they are, and this is all I know about them. 



The common sunfish, the "sunny " par excellence, is 

 next in the list. How many entries in my note-books 

 refer to this fish I have not time to count ; but I never 

 went to Watson's Creek without seeing hundreds of them, 

 and never came home that I didn't "put it down." It 

 was not, however, always a mere sight of the fish, and 

 nothing more, as I sometimes had glimpses of its habits, 

 and followed it up until I learned some new fact. Such 

 days were not lived in vain. 



It happens that at what is called the " bend " in Wat- 

 son's Creek there grows an enormous elm, the gnarled 

 and twisted roots of which extend out into the clear 

 water clearer for the spring that here bubbles up from 

 the bed of the stream. Given this combination of creek, 

 spring, and tree, and the fourth feature, a pair of sunfish, 

 is not likely to be wanting. At all events, in this case 

 there is always a patriarchal sunfish and his mate living 

 in state among these elm-roots; and a very interesting 

 fact is here to be noticed at the outset. They are not 

 merely paired for the season, but remain a faithful and 

 loving couple all the year and for several years. One 

 such pair did so live, I know, and I believe the same may 

 be said of them all, at least when they are large enough 

 to gain possession of some such nook as I have mentioned 

 and can hold it against all intruders. Their worst ene- 

 mies are men and boys, of course, for juvenile anglers in 



