COURTSHIP OF FISH. 39 



During the temporary cessation of the combats spoken 

 of, the male joins company with the females, when, as is 

 usual with suitors, he assumes his gayest colours, which, 

 in brilliancy and variety, equal those of the rainbow; and 

 either by force or persuasion he gets one or other of them 

 into his nest, through the aperture in question, where 

 she deposits her eggs, and then forces her passage out 

 again, but in an opposite direction to that by which she 

 entered. Immediately after her departure, the male him- 

 self takes her place in the nest, for the purpose, it is 

 to be presumed, of fructifying the eggs, and then goes 

 wooing again, when the same process is repeated. 



The number of eggs thus deposited in one nest is very 

 great ; and after the spawning season is over, the male 

 stations himself perpendicularly over the entrance of the 

 nest, and guards the eggs until they are hatched. For 

 twenty days subsequent to the birth of the fry, he tends 

 them as affectionately as a hen does her chickens, and it 

 is only by degrees he allows them to leave the nest, where 

 he brings them food. 



The lek usually lasts from four to six days, but its 

 duration is in some degree dependent on the state of the 

 weather. Most fishes during the spawning season lay aside 

 their natural shyness, and are consequently easy of capture ; 

 but the contrary is the case with the three-spined stickleback, 

 which at that period is more than usually vigilant. When the 

 lek is over, its brilliant colours gradually vanish, and it then 

 assumes its ordinary appearance, and disposition. 



From its abundance everywhere, during certain seasons, 

 one might be led to imagine the female to be very prolific. 

 But this is by no means the case, for she has not in both 



