Sticklebacks Nest. 163 



other sticklebacks, many who would fain have a house 

 without all the trouble he has taken of laying a founda- 

 tion from the very start, and are fain to steal his. He 

 has to give them a touch of his quality, which he does, 

 and drives them off, with no doubt some little quiver- 

 ings of pain from his spines well applied; as he dashes 

 furiously against them at the unprotected parts. 



The nest itself, when finished, is somewhat of barrel- 

 shape, open at both ends however, and will hardly do 

 more than half cover the bride for whom it is intended, 

 the head and tail being clearly exposed, and only the 

 middle of the body in the nest. Well, the next thing, 

 of course, is to bring the bride home to her well-pre- 

 pared chamber. She is found, brought there, and enters 

 in. The male is very attentive to her for a time, and 

 keeps careful watch over her ; but he has no notion of 

 supporting her any longer than he needs her. The 

 moment she has done the work of depositing her eggs 

 he turns her out, and goes in search of another mate, 

 and with her repeats the same process, and again the 

 same process with a third, and it may even be with 

 a fourth. He has made up his mind that he must have 

 a certain number of eggs, and this is the way he takes 

 to get them. 



He then closes up the ends of the nest, and keeps 

 strict watch over it, never going away from it further 

 than a foot or two. And he has need to be strict and 

 careful, for not only are there stranger enemies ready 

 to undo his work, but the discarded wives, whether 

 moved by envy or jealousy no one knows, would fain 

 tear the nest to pieces, and eat the eggs, or set them 

 free to be destroyed or eaten of other fishes. For 

 about a month Mr. Stickleback is thus on the closest 

 watch till the eggs are hatched. Even then his hard 



