OBSERVATIONS ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF 
AMEIURUS NEBULOSUS. 
ALBERT C. EYCLESHYMER. 
ALTHOUGH the bullhead, or horned pout, is one of the most 
common of our fishes, but little was known of its breeding 
habits until Professor Birge, several years since, discovered the 
nests and eggs and made some interesting observations on the 
behavior of the fishes during the spawning period. The earlier 
naturalists had given us hints as to the breeding time, but these 
suggestions were little more than indefinite surmises, partaking 
of the character of the following remarks by Thoreau: “The 
horned pout are dull and blundering fellows, fond of the mud, 
and growing best in weedy ponds and rivers without current. 
They stay near the bottom, moving slowly about with their bar- 
bels widely spread, watching for anything eatable. They will 
take any kind of bait, from an angleworm to a piece of tin 
tomato-can, without coquetry, and they seldom fail to swallow 
the hook. They are very tenacious of life, ‘opening and shut- 
ting their mouths for half an hour after their heads have been 
cut off? They spawn in spring, and the old fishes lead the 
young in great schools near the shore, seemingly caring for 
them as the hen for hér chickens DRM see ninos 
set of rangers, with ever a lance in rest, and ready to do battle 
with their nearest neighbor." 
While the observations made by Profess 
been published, some of the facts have been given me in à private 
letter, from which I have permission to quote. Professor Birge 
writes : * The bullheads on which I made my observations made 
' their nests in a shallow bay with sandy bottom, in water not 
more than two feet in depth. Some of the nests were In — 
not six inches in depth; hardly deep enough to cover cem : 
While sitting on the eggs. erflowed land an 
This bay was ov din 
contained numerous stumps, which had become hollow in the 
911 
or Birge have never 
