THE GAME BREEDER 



47 



A Turtle Trap. 



TURTLES AND BASS. 



By Prof. L. L. Dyciie. 



It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon 

 when we had an unexpected opportunity 

 of making observation which we con- 

 sidered a rare one. We were dehghted 

 to see a turtle of the variety usually 

 called a "skillypot" or "painted turtle" 

 slowly making its way up this narrow 

 channel in the direction of the bass nests. 

 This turtle came along in turtle fashion, 

 slowly and carefully, until it got within 

 five or six feet of the nearest nest. Be- 

 ing on the bottom and moving slowly the 

 fish did not seem to notice the turtle 

 until it got within a short distance of 

 them. When the fish did recognize the 

 turtle they immediately became very 

 much excited, swimming over and 

 around their nests and around and over 

 each other. Finally one of them made 

 a frantic dart at the turtle, which was 

 an animal with a shell some six or eight 

 inches long and some five or six inches 

 wide. After the first two or three move- 

 ments there was such a commotion in the 

 water that it was hardly possible to see 

 just what took place. Apparently the 

 bass grabbed the turtle by the head, 

 which would seem an unreasonable thing 

 to do. However, this was the best ob- 

 servation we could get at the time of 

 what took place. The turtle was turned 

 upside down, at any rate it appeared 

 that way. 



All three bass made an attack on this 



animal, swimming past, around and un- 

 der the turtle and striking the animal in 

 some manner. It was not possible to see 

 whether they grabbed the turtle with 

 their mouths or whether they raked the 

 animal with their dorsal spines. Ap- 

 parently they grabbed him by the feet 

 or tail or most anywhere with their 

 mouths. They must have used their 

 sharp dorsal spines as they passed under 

 the animal. The turtle was on his back 

 or side part of the time, and was appar- 

 ently turned over by the fish grabbing 

 it. Finally the turtle got his feet in 

 some weeds, which enabled him to get 

 to the bottom, and he immediately dis- 

 appeared under a bunch of water plants 

 that was near the shore. The fish were 

 very much excited and swam up and 

 down the small inlet for some time. It 

 took several minutes to become quiet 

 and settle down to their regular work of 

 guarding and fanning the eggs in the 

 nests. 



Since the above observations were 

 made we saw a rock bass grab a turtle 

 by the head and turn it completely over. 

 At the time we were watching the rock 

 bass perform on its nest at a distance of 

 not over two feet. The turtle, a small 

 one with a shell not over five inches in 

 length, came along almost crawling into 

 the nest before it was discovered. The 

 fish grabbed the outstretched head of the 



