tJ' 



Fishing in North Carolina. 27 



a bass, but it is otherwise and the jack appears 

 to be aware of it because the jack vacates its 

 domicile alongside a log or lily patch whenever 

 a bass wants to take charge of the place. 



We often see a mill pcjnd stocked with bass, 

 jack, perch, mullet, and shiners, and imagine 

 that they dwell together in peace. There is no 

 peace there. All are hungry, and each in its 

 turn is as predatory as a Rockefeller or a Mor- 

 gan. Nature has so favored their necessities 

 that the spawning season of the diffei-ent species 

 wcurs at different seasons, in order that the egg 

 product may partially supply thc^ constant de- 

 mand of the appetite. After the hatch of possi- 

 bly one one-hundredth part of the eggs spawned, 

 comes into horse-play that everlasting pursuit 

 of the young and feeble. 



The jack or pike spawns in February when 

 eggs are in great demand, and all the other 

 species are rampant customers. A little later 

 the mullet does its stunt in the same line of busi- 

 ness — furnishing food for the inhabitants of 

 water and land. The bass establishes its planta- 

 tion in shallow water on the ground or on a flat 



