MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



fish, one couple to each pool or overhung 

 basin ; yet, strange to say, if one is tickled 

 or otherwise enticed away, the widowed 

 survivor seems always to have found a mate 

 before three hours are over. I know most 

 of them personally, and love to watch their 

 habits and manners. They are brilliantly 

 speckled here, because the water is clear 

 and the bottom pebbly ; for the spots on 

 trout depend on the bed, and come out 

 brighter and more ornamental by far during 

 the breeding season. This is still more 

 conspicuously the case with the aesthetic 

 stickleback, the dandy of the fresh waters ; 

 he puts on the most exquisite iridescent 

 hues when he goes a-courting, and exhibits 

 himself to his mate more gorgeously clad 

 than Solomon in all his glory. Unfortunately, 

 the colours are very fugacious, for they die 

 away at once when he is taken out of 

 the water; but while they last, they out- 

 shine in brilliancy the humming-bird or 

 the butterfly. Both species are great and 

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