FISHES. 25 
springs furiously at the hand, and is easily 
seized. 
Mr. Audubon has described, in his peculiarly 
graphic style, the nest-making habits and pa- 
rental devotedness of a fish found in the rivers 
of North America, which he calls the Sunny, or 
Sun-perch, but which appears to be a small 
species of Lahrus. 
The Sun-perch seems to give a decided pre- 
ference to sandy, gravelly, or rocky beds of 
streams, avoiding those of which the bottom is 
muddy. At the period of depositing their eggs, 
this preference is still more apparent. The little 
creature is then seen swimming rapidly over 
shallows, the bed of which is mostly formed of 
fine gravel, when, after a while, it is observed to 
poise itself, and gradually sink to the bottom, 
where, with its fins, it pushes aside the sand to 
the extent of eight or ten inches, thus forming a 
circular cavity. In a few days, a little ridge is 
thus raised around, and in the cleared area the 
roe is deposited. By wading carefully over the 
extent of the place, a person may count forty, 
fifty, or more of these beds, some within a few 
feet of each other, and some several yards apart. 
Instead of abandoning its spawn, as others of the 
family are wont to do, this little fish keeps guard 
over it with all the care of a sitting bird. You 
observe it poised over the bed, watching the ob- 
jects around. Should the rotten leaf of a tree, 
a piece of wood, or any other substance happen to 
be rolled over the border of the bed, the Sun-fish 
carefully removes it, holding the obnoxious matter 
in its mouth, and dropping it over the margin. 
Having many times witnessed this act of pru- 
