2io AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



objecting to the saline nature of the water, which 

 would eventually have killed them. 



That Sticklebacks will recover after being in the 

 sea is certain, for on 6th April 1890 I picked up 

 several, and packing them between some red seaweed 

 in a tin box, I carried them home. One I placed in 

 a large pickle bottle filled with tap water (from 

 Ormesby Broad), wherein he immediately com- 

 menced bullying some Ten - spined Sticklebacks 

 that had been living there a long time. He was 

 so vicious that I had to remove him to a bottle 

 by himself. 



Whether it were possible for a Pike to live any 

 length of time in quite salt water is, to my mind, 

 very doubtful. " Salts " invading the upper reaches 

 of our rivers are occasionally fatal to great numbers 

 of fresh- water fishes, Pike included. In the autumn 

 of 1895 hundredweights of fish, including many small 

 Pike, perished above Acle, and were fished out for 

 manure. But in November 1897 a Pike of goodly 

 size was taken in a herring-net miles out at sea, off' 

 Yarmouth. It was reported to be "strong alive 1 ' 

 when captured: that it was netted I am satisfied, 

 for it was taken to a taxidermist for preservation 

 as a novelty. 



