THE LITTLE STICKLEBACK. 25 



point of a fine needle at one touch crushes hundreds 

 of them. 



k Full nature swarms with life; one wondrous mass 

 Of animals, or atoms organized, 

 Waiting the vital breath when Parent Heaven 

 Shall bid his spirit flow.' 



Lastly, How fondly some writers dwell upon the 

 many touching instances of affection apparent in the 

 feathered tribe, and narrate how carefully and how 

 skilfully the little wren, for example, builds its nest, 

 and tenderly rears its young. I have often watched 

 the common fowl, and admired her maternal anxiety 

 to make her outspread wings embrace) the whole of 

 her unfledged brood, and keep them warm. The cat, 

 too, exhibits this characteristic love of offspring in a 

 marked degree. She will run after a rude hand that 

 grasps one of her blind kittens, and, if possible, will 

 lift the little creature, and run away home with it in 

 her mouth. Now, whether we look at the singular 

 skill of the bird building its nest, the hen sitting 

 near and protecting its brood, or the cat grasping 

 her young in its jaws, and carrying them home in 

 safety, we shall find that all these charming traits 

 are wonderfully combined in one of the humblest 

 members of the finny tribe, viz., the common stickle- 

 back, the little creature that boys catch by thou- 

 sands with a worm and a pin, that lives equally 

 content in the clear blue sea or the muddy fresh 

 water pool. 



The author now finds that he has been much 



