AMERICAN SUN PERCH. 51 



water, where I had previously seen many deposits. Approaching the 

 nearest to the shore with great care, I baited my hook with a living 

 ground-worm, the greater part of which was left at liberty to writhe as it 

 pleased, and throwing the line up the stream, managed it so that at last 

 it passed over the border of the nest, when I allowed it to remain on the 

 bottom. The fish, I perceived, had marked me, and as the worm in- 

 truded on its premises, he swam to the farther side, there poised himself 

 for a few moments, then approached the worm, and carried it in his mouth 

 over the side next to me, with a care and gentleness so very remarkable 

 as to afford me much surprise. I repeated the experiment six or seven 

 times, and always with the same result. Then changing the bait, I em- 

 ployed a young grasshopper, which I floated into the egg-bed. The in- 

 sect was removed, as the worm had been, and two attempts to hook the 

 fish proved unsuccessful. I now threw my line with the hook bare, and 

 managed as before. The sunny appeared quite alarmed. It swam to one 

 side, then to another, in rapid succession, and seemed to entertain a fear 

 that the removal of the suspicious object might prove extremely danger- 

 ous to it. Yet it gradually approached the hook, took it delicately up, 

 and the next instant dropped it over the edge of the bed ! 



Reader, if you are one who, like me, have studied Nature with a desire 

 to improve your mental faculties, and contemplate the wonderful pheno- 

 mena that present themselves to the view at every step we take in her wide 

 domain, you would have been struck, had you witnessed the actions of 

 this little fish, as I was, with admiration of the Being who gave such in- 

 stincts to so humble an object. I gazed in amazement on the little crea- 

 ture, and wondered that nature had endowed it with such feelings and 

 powers. The irrepressible desire of acquiring knowledge prompted me to 

 continue the experiment ; but with whatever dexterity I could in those 

 days hook a fish, all my efforts proved abortive, not with this individual 

 only, but with many others, which I subjected to the same trials. 



Satisfied that at this period the Sun-fish was more than a match for 

 me, I rolled up my line, and with the rod gave a rap on the water as 

 nearly over the fish as I could. The sunny darted off to a distance of 

 several yards, poised itself steadily, and as soon as my rod was raised 

 from the water, returned to its station. The effect of the blow on the 

 water was now apparent, for I perceived that the fish was busily em- 

 ployed in smoothing the bed ; but here ended my experiments on the 

 Sun-fish. 



