246 BRITISH FRESHWATER FISHES 



may be had of this vast shoal by saying that a man 

 employed by the farmer to take them has got for 

 a considerable time four shillings a day by selling 

 them at a halfpenny a bushel." 



A similar phenomenon was observed in April, 

 1909, at Whittlesey, for Mr. J. E. Rovvell wrote 

 to the Fishing Gazette that vast hordes of Three- 

 spined Sticklebacks had lately shown themselves in 

 the rivers and canals in the neighbourhood, although 

 previous to this visitation they were scarcely known 

 in the district. Probably these enormous migrating 

 shoals come in from the sea. 



According to Smitt, in the late autumn the Three- 

 spined Sticklebacks roam about in large companies 

 and yield a rich harvest to the Baltic fishermen, who 

 catch them by means of seine-nets, or in the evening 

 attract them with torchlights and use hand-nets for 

 their capture ; they are boiled down into oil and 

 the sediment is used as manure. The author just 

 quoted also states that the fish is hardly used at all 

 as human food, but that in England, together with 

 Herring fry, it often tempts consumers under the 

 name of Whitebait/ In North America and Kam- 

 chatka Sticklebacks are used as manure and as food 

 for cattle. 



Although so insignificant in size, the Three-spined 

 Stickleback is bold and greedy, often fiercely attack- 

 ing larger fishes ; it feeds on shrimps, insects, worms, 

 etc., and is especially destructive to the spawn and 

 young fry of other fish. 



^ An analysis of Whitebait shows that there is usually a considerable 

 proportion of the fry of Herrings and Sprats ; the other constituents 

 vary greatly according to locality and season, but Smells, Sand-smelts, 

 Sand-eels, and Sticklebacks are often present. 



