154 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



the cows animals harmless to them, and also saw, or 

 thought they did, an enemy in me, 



I had had a very different experience recently, with an 

 old sunfish and her brood, and so wondered the more at 

 the exceeding wildness of the little minnows in the pond. 

 While gathering snail-like shells from the leaf -stalks of 

 the lotus, this troubled mother fish was much exercised 

 because her brood had no fear, and were in danger of 

 being trampled upon, as I waded in the shallow water. 

 Then, prompted by an innate love of teasing, I put my 

 hand into the water, and the young, instead of darting 

 away, clustered about it and nibbled at my fingers. The 

 poor old mother became frantic. Fear limited her daring, 

 and she remained just out of reach. I waited for some 

 time in an uncomfortable, stooping position, hoping to see 

 evidence of a power on the parent fish's part to signal to 

 her young, but discovered nothing that could be looked 

 upon in that light ; or, if the young fish were aware of 

 any such signaling, they were quite indifferent to it. 

 After a few minutes had elapsed, I commenced moving 

 my hand to and fro, and opening and closing my fingers 

 at the same time. These motions were too like those of 

 an animal in the act of eating the brood, and the limit of 

 the parent's endurance was reached. Without warning, 

 she rushed at my hand with such force that I was fairly 

 startled, and, withdrawing it suddenly, nearly lost my bal- 

 ance. 



Shortly after this incident the question arose in my 

 mind, whether this brood of very young fish could distin- 

 guish their mother from other adult sunfish. Of course, 

 the converse of this is always true. To test the matter, I 

 scooped in a near-by ditch until I caught a fish of about 

 the size of the parent of the brood, and then separating 

 the young from their mother and keeping them well apart, 

 set my captive free among the former. Instantly there 



