Pond Life 
well provided with sharp prickles, which 
stick out on his back and gill covers, he 
is not to be despised as an enemy, 
in spite of his small size. He is now 
particularly brilliant in colour: his eyes 
are blue, his stomach bright red, and his 
back a brilliant glossy green. And he 
is perfectly brimful of nervous energy, 
excitement, and pugnacity. So, like 
most pugnacious, energetic things, he 
gets his own way as a rule, and neigh- 
bours who are anything like his own 
size give him a wide berth at this season 
of the year. Of course, a duck would 
gobble up his nest as soon as not—sooner 
than not, in fact. But even a duck, if 
it were wise, would think twice before 
it swallowed Mr. Stickleback. It might 
swallow him down all right without any 
accident, but if one of those spines on 
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