352 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



a pond from the brook through a subterranean pipe 

 which supplied it with water. Those that remain in 

 the ponds are usually much larger than those found 

 in the stream : these are often small say, a pound 

 to two pounds in weight. In the spawning season, 

 however, they come out from the ponds and go up 

 the brook in pairs or trios. They keep close together 

 side by side the largest in the centre, when there are 

 three. The brook at that time seems full of jacks ; 

 and to any one who has been accustomed to stroll 

 along it is surprising where they all come from. 



Although the jacks lie in the quiet ponds most of 

 the time, yet some of them travel about a great deal, 

 especially the smaller ones ranging from one to two 

 pounds. These will leap a bay or dam if it interrupts 

 their voyaging down the stream. I have seen a young 

 jack, about a foot long, leap over a bay, and fall three 

 or four feet on to the stony floor below, the stones 

 scarcely covered with water. The jack shot himself 

 perhaps two feet, and fell on his side on the stones ; 

 there he lay quietly a minute or so, and then gave 

 a bound up, and, lighting in the current, went down 

 with it. A small jack like this will sometimes go out 

 into the irrigated meadows, following the water-carriers 

 for a long distance. 



In quiet, sheltered places, where the water is clear 

 but does not run too swiftly, the " minnie," as the 

 stickleback is locally called, makes its nest beside the 

 bank. A small hole in the sand is excavated, and in 

 this are laid a number of tiny fibres such as are carried 



