374 FISHES. 



CHAPTER XII. THE STICKLEBACKS. 



The little grey and golden Stickleback, with the three 



(sometimes four) spines in the dorsal fin, is familiar in 



most of our streams. In place of scales, it is 



ommon^ clad in bony plates, and the variations to which 



spined it is subject in the number of these plates, as 



Stickle- 'j-^ |.j^g^^ q£ ^]^g spines, has been the basis for 



a number of species, which might be more 

 properly regarded as varieties. All the sticklebacks are 

 capable of living in either fresh or salt water ; and they 

 have been, wrongly, thought to live for one year only. 

 Like the rest of the group, this stickleback constructs a 

 nest towards the middle of spring, the male, which assumes 

 at this important season patches of red, subsequently guard- 

 ing the eggs and young from intruders. 



Regarded as a sore trouble in the trout-stream, the Ten- 

 spined Stickleback, or "Tinker," is widely, though locally, 

 distributed throughout these islands, frequent- 

 spine d i^g brackish as well as fresh waters. There 

 Stickle- are no bony plates on the sides, and the nor- 

 mal colour, which is subject to considerable 

 variation, is greenish-brown, with black spots, belly and 

 sides silvery. In the breeding season the male, at any 

 rate, changes to a deep black. 



The larger Fifteen-spined Stickleback, or " Bottlenose," 

 normally olive-colour with white j^atches, is said to change 

 hue when excited. In these islands this sjjecies 

 spined ^^ described by most writers as exclusively 

 Stickle- marine, but it has been observed to enter 

 some streams in northern Continental coun- 

 tries. It is therefore probable that it has similar tastes 

 with us, but has chanced to escape observation in our 

 rivers. This sj^ecies has a long attenuated body and 



