Pond Life 
There are even fish in it; it is true 
they are only sticklebacks, not very 
large things to catch. But the mystery 
is, How did they get there in the iret 
place? It was George the Third— 
wasn’t it >-who is said to have been so 
perplexed as to how the apple got into 
the apple-dumpling. But I have often. 
wondered how the sticklebacks first get 
into the ponds, and I don’t know now. 
They can’t fly like some of the other 
inhabitants, so 1 suppose their eggs must 
have been taken there. For they day 
eggs; and not only lay eggs, but they 
make nests. Now, all the fishes lay 
eggs, but very few of them make a nest, 
and our common stickleback is one of 
them. And this nest-making makes 
it even more. difficult to understand. 
Because if they laid their eggs on the 
84 
