THE GAME BREEDER 



15 



yellow color, in the hybrid the color was 

 between these two. Furthermore, while 

 the pheasant had well developed spurs, 

 about 10 mm. in length, and the bantam 

 very short spurs on both feet, the hy- 

 brid had on the right foot a short blunt 

 spur and on the left only a low wart-like 



structure. When the hybrid was com- 

 pared with the pheasant hen, it was ob- 

 vious that the color-resemblance to the 

 female pheasant was more striking than 

 to the male bird, but that the form-re- 

 semblance to the female was less 

 marked. 



POND FISH CULTURE. 



By Professor L. L. Dycke, 



Late State Fish and Game Warden of Kansas. 



[This is the conclusion of an article begun in the November number prior to the un- 

 timely death of Professor Dyche. — Editor.] 



The spawning bed or the nest that 

 the Black Bass prepares here at the 

 State Fish Hatchery is usually built on 

 the north, east or west shores of the 

 ponds, where the sun naturally warms 

 the waters first in the early springtime. 

 At this season of the year one does not 

 have to walk far until more or less bass 

 are seen swimming near the shore. One 

 or two bass may be observed hovering 

 over a certain spot. If it is a single fish 

 it is usually a male, and if one will take 

 the trouble to sit or lie down on the 

 bank and keep perfectly still, in a not 

 too prominent place, in from fifteen to 

 twenty minutes the bass will usually be- 

 come accustomed to the situation and 

 will proceed with the ordinary work of 

 nest-building that was being carried on, 

 just the same as if there was no observer 

 watching. 



We found that a few bushes stuck in 

 the bank for sort of a blind and left 

 there, so that the fish would get used to 

 them, made the approach to the nest 

 much easier for future visits. H the 

 bass should happen to be a male prepar- 

 ing a spawning bed or nest, a number of 

 things can be learned by watching con- 

 cerning the habits of the fish. The place 

 selected for the nest depends upon the 

 nature of the shore of the pond. A 

 good many observations made by differ- 

 ent persons have been recorded concern- 

 in the spawning habits of the Black 

 B^ss. This may account for many dis- 



crepencies, as the two varieties differ 

 more or less in their habits. Many ob- 

 servers record the fact that the nest is 

 built in places where gravel and coarse 

 sand are present and that the eggs are 

 placed on the gravel beds. Some fish 

 culturists prepare special gravel beds for 

 fish to spawn on. Sometimes the gravel 

 is placed in shallow boxes about two 

 feet square, and sometimes the gravel 

 and coarse sand mixtures are embedded 

 in cement-formed nests and placed 

 where the fish can find them. Such de- 

 vices have been reported more or less 

 successful with the Small-mouthed 

 Black Bass. 



Here at the Kansas State Fish Hatch- 

 ery the Large-mouthed Black Bass do 

 not seem to pay much, if any, attention 

 to gravel beds. The male fish usually 

 starts the nest by selecting a place where 

 the water varies from ten inches to two 

 feet in depth. The places selected, so 

 far as our observations have gone, are 

 usually spots where more or less vegeta- 

 tion in the shape of small water plants 

 may be found growing. The fish usually 

 removes most of this vegetable matter, 

 and then fans the; spot with its fins and 

 tail at intervals for a period of two, 

 three or more days. The excavation 

 which forms the nest or spawning bed 

 varies from two to five or six inches in 

 depth, and is from twenty to thirty-six 

 inches across, or about twice the length 

 of the fish. However, where the ground 



