316 The Stickleback's Nest. 



however, they come out from the ponds and go up 

 the brook in pairs or trios. They keep close together 

 side by side — the largest in the centre, when there 

 are three. The brook at that time seems full of 

 jacks ; and to any one who has been accustomed to 

 stroll along it, it is surprising where they all come 

 from. 



Although the jacks lie in the quiet ponds most of 

 the time j-et some of them travel about a great deal, 

 especiall}' the smaller ones ranging from one to two 

 pounds. These will leap a ba}' or dam if it interrupts 

 their vo^'aging down the stream. I have seen a 

 young jack, about a foot long, leap over a bay, and 

 fall three or four feet on to the ston^^ floor below, the 

 stones scarcely covered with water. The jack shot 

 himself perhaps two feet, and fell on his side on the 

 stones ; there he lay quiet a minute or so, and then 

 gave abound up, and, lighting in the current, went 

 down with it. A small jack like this will sometimes 

 go out into the irrigated meadows, following the 

 water-carriers for a long distance. 



In quiet, sheltered places, where the water is clear 

 but does not run too swiftl3^ the ' minnie,' as the 

 stickleback is locally called, makes its nest beside the 

 bank. A small hole in the sand is excavated, and in 

 this are laid a number of tiny fibres such as are 

 carried along by the stream, resembling a miniature 

 fagot. On these fibres the ova are deposited, and 

 they are then either purposely partly covered with 

 sand by the minnie, or else the particles that are 

 brought down by the current gather over the bundle 

 of fibres and conceal it, excepting "one small spot. 

 There several of the slender roots seem to slightly 



