58 TUE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



days, and at other times four or five hours. Not, therefore, to keep the 

 reader at one ideal stickleback stream too long, I may briefly say that, 

 the materials are chiefly pieces of straw, roots, leaves, all placed, in the 

 case of the smooth-tailed stickleback (0. leiurus) , in a longitudinal position. 

 The process of cementing after the structure is raised is a long and 

 laborious one, and is not finished until the whole edifice is perfectly 

 sound and stable from an aquatic point of view. Two apertures are 

 constructed in the nest, one for ingress and the other for egress. They 

 are quite smooth and symmetrical, and offer no opposition to the passage 

 of the fish. 



The reader may now observe, in our imagined stream, the use of the 

 superstructure so ingeniously raised by Mr. Stickleback. Keeping a 

 watchful eye over his building, lest some brigand-like stickleback should 

 seek to rob him of the results of his architectural labours, he seeks a 

 buxom partner from amongst many females hovering near, and seemingly 

 approving his hitherto arduous exertions. The lady usually is com- 

 paratively unattractive in appearance (which is as much an anomaly as- 

 the excessive parental solicitude exhibited by the male), but very 

 obedient, and, after a little conference in an unknown and inaudible 

 language to the observer, she dutifully accepts the escort of the gallant 

 cavalier, and enters the nest at his apparent bidding. Here she remains 

 some little time almost entirely concealed, and the operation of depositing 

 the ova is accomplished with little difficulty or delay. Meanwhile, like 

 a paladin of old, Sir Stickleback Gasterosteas keeps watch, and ever and 

 anon charges through the aqueous plains at other opposing, or seemingly 

 pugnacious sticklebacks more vulnerable than himself. Sometimes an 

 inadvertent female, seeking to propitiate his prickly lordship, advances 

 near the guarded domicile, perhaps unconscious of its containing a rival, 

 or may be impatiently jealous of her long stay. She is hurled back, 

 however, not very kindly, but often with dangerous violence ; indeed, I 

 have seen a persistent lady stickleback ripped open by the stiletto-like 

 spines and sink to the bottom of the tank and die. Woe, also, to a 

 male intruder who is courageous enough to venture upon a combat. 

 The green and gold armour absolutely gleams in the sunlight, and the 

 inconceivably rapid onslaughts of the defender, instinct as he is with 

 conjugal and parental bravery, soon make an end to the fight. The 

 intruder either makes a virtue of necessity and retreats or dies, or by 

 a rare chance possibly conquers the legitimate owner of the nest. In 

 that event he takes possession, and, shame on the fickleness of the female 

 mind, the hitherto beloved partner of a faithful fish who has sacrified 

 his life for her sake, like another Queen of Denmark, accepts .a new lord 

 without a show of resistance. 



