138 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



get a few sticklebacks (G aster osteus aculeatus}. I 

 sought in vain in those ponds which I thought most 

 likely to have them. I made inquiry of some boys, 

 whom I always consider adepts in that kind of know- 

 ledge, but without effect. Yet they did not turn out 

 so very unprofitable. Anticipating my course, they 

 took the road before me. As I had touched on a 

 subject agreeable to their age and likely to rouse 

 their curiosity, no doubt they had a desire to parti- 

 cipate in the adventure. As they were now a dozen 

 or two yards ahead, I saw them advance to a group 

 of children of the other sex. I heard one of the 

 little girls say 



" ' Is it minnows ? they are plenty o' them o'er 

 there.' 



" I inquired where. 



"The ready and sincere answer was, ' O'er there,' 

 pointing to a lot of farmers' dungsteads laid up on 

 some forced * earth of a freestone quarry. 



" Suspecting that she meant somewhere at a greater 

 distance, I endeavoured to discover the particular 

 spot by interrogating if they were beyond or within 

 such and such places. 



" ' No, no,' was the reply, 'they are just o'er there> 

 at the horses' heads, there, where the men are filling 

 dung.' 



" Still I was undetermined. There were the horses 

 within three lengths of myself at the tail of a huge 

 dunghill, but where could there be a drop of water a 

 fish could live in ? 



" The kind little girl, observing my bewilderment, 



* That is, earth that had been removed from the quarry. 



