ON SMALL FISH, PRINCIPALLY USED AS BAITS. 283 
small worm on the smallest of hooks, is the best bait for 
them. Probably, however, few anglers will care to know 
anything further as to how they may be caught, the 
former species being of little account except for the 
purpose of bait, when it can generally be more con- 
veniently caught with the Minnow nets,* and the latter 
being useless for either purpose. 
To the naturalist, on the contrary, these little fish, and 
especially the Sticklebacks, are more interesting than 
almost any of the larger species. I daresay it will sur- 
prise many of my readers to be told, for example, that 
the Stickleback, of which our streams and ponds pro- 
duce six distinct species, are the only British fresh-water 
fish that build complete nests like birds, in which to 
deposit their eggs; and that during the subsequent 
spawning process they display in their diminutive bodies 
a courage, solicitude, and even affection, almost without 
a parallel amongst fish. If the Pike is the tyrant of the 
water, the Stickleback is certainly entitled to be regarded 
as its knight errant. Now with bated weapons and 
* The minnow net is quite peculiar in principle and application, and 
owes its success to the curiosity which is so strikingly characteristic of 
the species—males as well as females. It consists of a circular piece of 
fine net stretched nearly flat over an iron hoop of about two feet in 
diameter. The hoop is suspended by cords at the sides, like the 
suspenders of church candle-lamps, and these being attached to a pole 
the net is dropped horizontally into the water, and suddenly lifted up 
again when a sufficient number of minnows have congregated over it. 
Little pieces of red cloth sewn into the net will increase the number of 
visitors. 
