164 Life and Imimortahty. 
form a circle or semi-circle. The largest heaps are undoubt- 
edly the work of successive years, the nests being annually 
added to during the last of May or June, when the Chubs 
are seen lying in the heaps, at which time the eggs are prob- 
ably deposited, All the labor of piling up is to protect them 
from predatory fishes, a necessary and wise provision, as 
cat-fish, rock-bass, perch and others prey upon the eggs. 
In gravelly beds the Trout excavates a simple nest, a mere 
depression in the sand, that is not at all incomparable to the 
nest of some species of gulls. A furrow in the gravelly 
bottom of a river, often ten feet in length, the depression 
being made as fast as it is required, is the nest of the Salmon. 
In Canadian rivers these nests can be easily distinguished by 
the lighter marking in the bottom. 
Few persons of the many who delight to drift along our 
sea-shores are unfamiliar with the Toad-fish. So closely does 
he in shape and color resemble a moss-covered stone that 
his enemies are deceived. Intrenched among the weeds and 
gravel, which the mother-fish carelessly throws aside, after 
the fashion of some of the gulls, the young are reared, 
their yolk-sacs enabling them to cling to the rocks of the 
nest soon after birth. There, under the watchful eye of the 
parent, they remain until old enough to swim away. 
But the most vigilant of all nest-builders is the Four- 
spined Stickleback—<Apeltes guadracus. In some neighbor- 
ing stream, that sooner or later finds its way to the ocean, he 
may be found. There are different species of these fish, but 
their architectural ideas are pretty much the same. They 
vary mainly in the locations they select for nesting. Some 
place the nests upon the bottom, concealed among the 
sea-weed found there, while others hang theirs from some 
projecting ledge, or swing it in the tide from the sunken 
bough of some overhanging tree. As is unusual, the 
work of nidification is solely performed by the male 
Stickleback, the female taking no part in the labor. The 
spawning season having arrived, he, assuming a bright 
