Nest-Building Fishes. 161 
been, the industrious little workers scouring the neighbor- 
bood for them, seemingly piling up eggs and stones alter- 
nately until the heap attains a height of eight inches or 
more. These heaps vary in shape, some being pyramidal, 
and others dome-shaped. 
Such patience as these finny housekeepers manifest is not 
appreciated by man. The gleaners of the golden fields, in 
whose waters our little friends are found, have not discovered 
their secret, and think the curious piles the washes of the 
brook itself. But their purpose is the protection of their 
eggs. In swift-running streams, which these fish are so wont 
to affect, the eggs would be washed away, and, driven against 
rocks and snags, would be destroyed, or, even escaping 
destruction, would, by the undulating movement to which 
they would become subjected, be rendered impossible of 
incubation. Besides, were they not thus protected, even 
though there was no danger of being washed away, they 
would become easy prey to the attacks of carnivorous 
fishes. 
Unlike as the Lamprey-eels are in structure to the Dace, 
yet in their habits of erecting a nest they are very similar. 
Upon our Eastern sea-board they are a common species, 
inhabiting both salt and fresh water. In the early spring 
they follow the shad up the rivers, occasionally preceding 
them, and search about for suitable localities in which to 
deposit their spawn. They clean away the stones as the 
Dace were seen to do, bending their long bodies in coils, 
which they use in pushing aside the accumulation on the 
bottom. To the unlearned the appearance of two Eels, each 
three feet in length, twisting and seemingly coiling about 
each other, would be indicative of war. But having cleaned 
for themselves a smooth spot, the Lampreys proceed to place 
stones. Irregularly-shaped stones of small size are easily 
and quickly transported in their mouths, but when stones 
that weigh several pounds are to be brought, the tactics they 
adopt are worthy of an engineer. As the spots chosen for 
