STICKLEBACK. 123 



the dorsal and anal fins are white, each crossed by a 

 broad conspicuous band of brown ; the eyes have golden 

 irides. 



We frequently see this attractive little fish hovering 

 about the long tufts of wrack and tangle that hang from 

 perpendicular rocks, and from the quays and wharves 

 of our harbours. It diligently hunts about for its minute 

 crustacean prey, in picking off which it assumes all varie- 

 ties of position "between the horizontal and perpendi- 

 cular, with the head downward or upward," thrusting 

 its projecting snout into the tufted weed, and snatching 

 its morsel with a sudden jerk. 



It is, however, in its domestic relations that this little 

 fish presents itself in the most interesting aspect. It 

 was known ages ago to Aristotle, that some fishes are 

 in the habit of forming nests, in which they deposit 

 their eggs, and bring up their young with a parental 

 care not inferior to that of birds. Until lately, how- 

 ever, this fact was supposed to be fabulous ; and fishes 

 were believed by the greatest masters of modern zoology 

 to be utterly destitute of the parental instinct. Eecent 

 research has in this, as in so many instances, proved the 

 exactitude of the old Stagyrite's knowledge, and we now 

 know that several fishes of different families nidificate. 

 The Sticklebacks, most of which inhabit in common our 

 marine and fresh waters, are remarkable for the mani- 



