1 64 Life and Immortality. 



form a circle or semi-circle. The largest heaps are undoubt- 

 edly the work of successive years, the nests being annually 

 added to during the last of May or June, when the Chubs 

 are seen lying in the heaps, at which time the eggs are prob- 

 ably deposited, All the labor of piling up is to protect them 

 from predatory fishes, a necessary and wise provision, as 

 cat-fish, rock-bass, perch and others prey upon the eggs. 



In gravelly beds the Trout excavates a simple nest, a mere 

 depression in the sand, that is not at all incomparable to the 

 nest of some species of gulls. A furrow in the gravelly 

 bottom of a river, often ten feet in length, the depression 

 being made as fast as it is required, is the nest of the Salmon. 

 In Canadian rivers these nests can be easily distinguished by 

 the lighter marking in the bottom. 



Few persons of the many who delight to drift along our 

 sea-shores are unfamiliar with the Toad-fish. So closely does 

 he in shape and color resemble a moss-covered stone that 

 his enemies are deceived. Intrenched among the weeds and 

 gravel, which the mother-fish carelessly throws aside, after 

 the fashion of some of the gulls, the young are reared, 

 their yolk-sacs enabling them to cling to the rocks of the 

 nest soon after birth. There, under the watchful eye of the 

 parent, they remain until old enough to swim away. 



But the most vigilant of all nest-builders is the Four- 

 spined Stickleback Apeltes quadracus. In some neighbor- 

 ing stream, that sooner or later finds its way to the ocean, he 

 may be found. There are different species of these fish, but 

 their architectural ideas are pretty much the same. They 

 vary mainly in the locations they select for nesting. Some 

 place the nests upon the bottom, concealed among the 

 sea-weed found there, while others hang theirs from some 

 projecting ledge, or swing it in the tide from the sunken 

 bough of some overhanging tree. As is unusual, the 

 work of nidification is solely performed by the male 

 Stickleback, the female taking no part in the labor. The 

 spawning season having arrived, he, assuming a bright 



