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devours its aboriginal inhabitants. It natural distribu- 

 tion was through a few of the lakes of New York, but 

 mainly in the North-western States. It has, however, 

 been acclimated in many other ponds and lakes where it 

 now flourishes extensively. The black bass loves bright, 

 pure, lively water, not as cold as the trout streams of 

 our spring-producing bills and mountains, but free from 

 foul matters held suspended in it, and with motion either 

 of current or from the winds. It deposits its eggs on 

 rocky or pebbly ledges. The parents guard and protect 

 their nests till the young are hatched, and even watch over 

 the latter till they can take care of themselves. Alter- 

 nately the male and female stands guard over their 

 precious possession of infantile possibilities ; if one is 

 away scouring the country for food, the other is on the 

 watch, fierce, brave, resolute, and woe to the unhappy 

 intruder who would steal a dinner from the deposit of 

 bass eggs. The bass is the tyrant of the fresh waters ; 

 even the bigjawed, snake-like pickerel cannot stand 

 against him. His teeth are long and sharp, his mouth 

 is large and threatening, his body is close knit and stout, 

 and his fins are arrowed at every point with sharp and 

 poisonous spines. Such a creature mounting guard over 

 his young is not an enemy to be despised. The young 

 need a mother's care for some days after they are 

 hatched. They have scarcely any sac and need food. 

 They cluster around the mother, and she takes them 

 where the food is and teaches them how to get it, until 

 they learn how to provide for themselves — ^just as an old 

 bird teaches her young, after leaving the nest, how to 

 get their own food^ — then she leaves them to take care 

 of themselves. It would be just as impossible for a 

 young fish, belonging to the black bass family, to take 

 care of itself just after it was hatched, as it would be for 

 a bird just hatched to take care of itself. 



