Forest and Stream 
vol. LXXXIV 
JANUARY, 1915 
No. 1 
Old Wisdom—The Sand Lake Bass 
By Robert Page Lincoln. 
HE full flush of Spring was 
abroad in the northern Minne¬ 
sota country. But shortly ago 
there had lain over that im¬ 
mense territory a blanket of 
glittering snow, some feet deep, 
and the wild norther had rav¬ 
aged the pines and the open 
stretches where no pine grew. It had been a se¬ 
vere winter, as winters go, but the relieving sun¬ 
shine had come back to the world again, and 
gradually, as though a veil had been lifted, the 
ermine had disappeared; then the country lay 
waiting for a time while the rains fell heavy up¬ 
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on the earth’s carpet; the sun came out again, the 
grass blades undoubled, and the ash trees took on 
a delicate cloak of greenery. Spring was at 
hand. The prisoning ice quickly went off the 
lakes and a month, passing hastily by, left the 
nearby world much different indeed than it short¬ 
ly had been. The returning birds from the 
southland were soon putting in their appearance. 
A black bear, out of his winter sleep stumbled 
down to the shores of the lake, weak from his 
long rest, beset with an overcoming appetite. The 
pickerel were now on the verge of spawning. Day 
in and day out in the shallows they disported 
themselves; seeming half giddy and powerless in 
the awakening of their sex passions. Hither 
and thither they swam, lolling weakly from side 
to side; and some, reckless, yet wishing to de¬ 
posit their spawn inshore as far as possible actu¬ 
ally lay splashing on the sands of the beach. The 
black bear made a rush on one of these occasions 
and returned to the woodline the possessor of an 
eight pound female pickerel which he greedily 
devoured with a grurit of satisfaction. Over¬ 
head swung the eagle-eyed fish-hawks; darting 
now and then into the lake with a crashing splash, 
returning sky-ward as often with their prey held 
in vice-like claws. The Sand Lake pickerel were 
on the spawning grounds many days. Other 
fishes also were busy with the duties of repro¬ 
duction. It had been a prime spawning year 
The season had not been backward, and the op¬ 
erations went forward without a hitch. The 
pumpkin seeds and the blue-gills were also con¬ 
centrating on that one great purpose. With 
their smooth bellies, and aided by t'heir fins they 
had brushed out small spawning beds, some but 
a foot across and perfectly round, others larger. 
These beds were carefully set in the bottom with 
gravel and large pebbles carried in from outside. 
They were made in the order of a colony. 
So skillfully apparently had they been laid out it 
would cause one wonderment to look upon them. 
The female sunfishes were now dropping their 
eggs and the males were approaching in their 
wake, fertilizing_ them. Soon the duty of the 
female would be ended. Then the male would 
take absolute charge over the spawning bed, the 
female would be driven from her home and 
would never again return; or if returning she 
would be set upon by the anger-permeated male, 
and driven away with the rest of the intruders- 
Now might be seen in every round hole a veri¬ 
table sentind on guard, with watchful eyes scan¬ 
ning the vicinity of his precious domain. Come 
life, come death—there he would remain, to 
guard his offspring till they were of a size that 
they might care for themselves. These, the mi¬ 
nute creatures, coming from the eggs would for 
weeks live solely upon the tiny yolk-sacs on their 
breasts; and when these would eventually disap¬ 
pear, shrink and dry up, they would have to hunt 
in the water for their nourishment, as presented 
in the innumerable inconspicuous parasites that 
tenaciously clung to life in the waters. At this 
stage the male sunfish would instinctively lose all 
interest in his progeny. His duty would then 
be conclusively fulfilled. He would know to a 
day when the tiny fishes were able to shift for 
themselves. Then he would drive them from 
their home, the spawning hole—and they would 
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