48 Fish Life [SECOND WEEK 



aside and snap up a beetle or mosquito larva, then swing 

 back to its place among its fellows. Their beautiful scales 

 flash scarlet, blue, and gold, and their little hand-and-foot 

 fins are ever trembling and waving. They drift upward 

 nearer the surface, the wide round eyes turning and twist- 

 ing in their sockets, ever watchful for food and danger. 

 Without warning a terrific splash scatters them, and when 

 the ripples and bubbles cease, five frightened sunfish cringe 

 in terror among the water plants of the bottom mud. Off 

 to her nest goes the kingfisher, bearing to her brood the 

 struggling sixth. 



Later in the day, when danger seemed far off, a double- 

 pointed vise shot toward the little group of " pumpkin 

 seeds " and a great blue heron swallowed one of their 

 number. Another, venturing too far beyond the protec- 

 tion of the lily stems and grass tangle of the shallows, 

 fell victim to a voracious pickerel. But the most terrible 

 fate befell when one day a black sinuous body came swiftly 

 through the water. The fish had never seen its like before 

 and yet some instinct told them that here was death 

 indeed and they fled as fast as their fins could send them. 

 The young otter had marked the trio and after it he sped, 

 turning, twisting, following every movement with never 

 a stop for breath until he had caught his prey. 



But the life of a fish is not all tragedy, and the two 

 remaining sunfish may live in peace. In spawning time 

 they clear a little space close to the water of the inlet, 

 pulling up the young weeds and pushing up the sandy 

 bottom until a hollow, bowl-like nest is prepared. Thoreau 

 tells us that here the fish " may be seen early in summer 



