384 



OEDERS OF FISHES— SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



handsome and substantial fish. Its bright, sil- 

 very coat is beautifully mottled with olive-green 

 blotches, so regularly splashed on as to suggest 

 the pattern of a piece of calico. 



Take, if you please, a beautiful bay on the 

 southern shore of Lake Ontario, a sunny day in 

 May, no hotels or cottages in sight, with red- 

 winged blackbirds singing "O-ka-lee"' in the 

 cat-tails, and the Calico ^Bass becomes one of 

 the prettiest fish you can pull out of the water. 

 Each time, it gives a firm and vigorous bite, 

 and leaves the water with a swish that once 

 heard under proper conditions lives long in the 

 memory. 



I like the Calico Bass because it is so hand- 

 some, so well set-up, so substantial on the string, 

 and so delicious on the table. A large specimen 

 measures only about ten inches in length, but 

 by reason of its great depth of body, and its 

 thickness, too, it is a fish well worth having. 

 Its weight never exceeds two pounds, and usu- 

 ally is about one pound. Besides the names given 

 above, it is called the Grass Bass, Bar-Fish and 

 "Cr^appie"; but the latter name belongs, to 

 another species. 



The Calico Bass is at home throughout the 

 whole region of the Great Lakes, the valley of 

 the Mississippi to Louisiana and Texas, and 

 along the Atlantic side down to the Carolinas 

 and Georgia. In the beautiful lakes and ponds 

 of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota it is 

 abundant, and highly valued. It can be 

 taken still-fishing with worms, minnows, and 

 grasshoppers, and also with a small trolling 

 spoon. 



It dislikes warm and muddy waters, it is a 

 clean feeder, not quarrelsome or destructive to 

 weaker species, and is said to increase rapidly. 

 Strange to say, the propagation of this fine fish 

 has received scanty attention from American 

 fish-culturists, and in 1900 only 7,544 were dis- 

 tributed by the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries. It seems to me that for stocking 

 northern lakes and ponds this is one of the most 

 desirable of all the smaller fishes; and I wish 

 long life and prosperity to the Calico Bass! 



The Grapple' is a muddy-water understudy 



of the preceding species. In some portions of 



the North, the two species overlap each other, 



but in the main the Crappie is a southern fish. 



1 Po-mox'is an-nu-lar'is. 



In 1900, the number distributed by the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries was 151,653. 



The Sunfishes are divided into fifteen spe- 

 cies, and as a group their range covers the whole 

 of the United States eastward of the Great 

 Plains. Poor indeed in fish life is the pond or 

 stream between Maine and Texas, Dakota and 

 Florida which contains no sunfish, bream or blue- 

 gills, pumpkin-seed or doUaree. In about nine 

 cases out of ten, the first fish that dangles from 

 the first hook-and-line of the very small Ameri- 

 can angler is a sunfish. Small though it be, and 

 feeble, it is yet a Fish; and it is large enough to 

 open to Childhood the door to a great wonder- 

 world of fish and fishing. Where is the veteran 

 fresh-water angler who does not recall the electric 

 thrills of his first " bite," and his first living, wrig- 

 gling, scintillating Sunfish! Blessings be upon 

 their rainbow-tinted sides for the joys they have 

 been, are, and yet will be to Childhood! 



Out of so many species it is difficult to select 

 representatives, but it seems that first choice 

 should fall upon the following: 



The Common Simflsh, or Pumpkm-Seed.^ 

 — This is the brilliant oUve-green, blue and or- 

 ange-yellow fish which when taken dripping 

 from the water has all the colors of a green opal, 

 and several more. It is distinguishable by the 

 touch of bright scarlet on the lower portion of 

 its gill-covers. It is found in clear ponds, large 

 brooks and other streams from Florida, north- 

 ward and -eastward of the Appalachian chain 

 to Maine, thence westward through the Great 

 Lakes region to Iowa and Manitoba. It is sub- 

 ject to considerable variations in color markings. 



In the Great Lakes, this fish attains a weight 

 of IJ pounds, but elsewhere a specimen 6 inches 

 in length and weighing 8 ounces is considered a 

 large one. 



The Blue-Gill or Black-GilP is the largest 

 of the sunfishes. Its opercle, or gill-cover, 

 terminates on the side in an ear-like flap which 

 is of a deep black color; and this conspicuous 

 character at once proclaims the species. This 

 fish is found throughout the Great Lakes region 

 and Mississippi valley. It sometimes attains a 

 length of 12 inches, and a weight of li to 2 

 pounds, and in some localities it is an important 

 market fish. 



2 Eu-po-to'mis gib-bo'sus. 

 ' Le-po'mis pal'li-dus. 



