5o8 MY GARDEN. 



Throughout the Wandle there are plenty of Sticklebacks of the 

 species called by the learned the Half-armed Stickleback, or Gasterosteus 

 semiarmatus (fig. 1106). They are very pugnacious and amusing 



creatures. They build a nest 

 and protect it. In the middle 

 of May, I observed a stickle- 

 back evidently guarding a 

 circle of about two inches in 



Fig. 1106.— Stickleback (from a drawing by Mr, Alfred). ,. , - . 



diameter, and chasmg away 

 every other fish which came within his domain. On closer examina- 

 tion, I saw at the bottom of the water a small circular place about 

 two inches in diameter, made of fibre, but arranged level with the 

 bottom of the stream. Suspecting a nest, I very carefully raised this 

 material, when it proved to contain two parcels of eggs, which were 

 about the size of a large pin's head. I immediately replaced the 





f€ll 





Fig. 1107. — Stickleback's Nest. 



material as well as I could in its former place, but Mr. Stickleback was 

 not at all satisfied with my arrangement, and set to work diligently to 

 adjust it himself. He brought little bits of fibre and thrust them into 

 the mass, and re-arranged the larger fibres. One parcel of eggs pro- 

 truded : these he dragged away, and began to devour ; but I took 

 possession of this mass, and placed them in a jar with water-plants, 

 where they soon after hatched into beautiful little fish. However, the 

 stickleback continued his work at the nest. Sometimes he would bring 

 a piece of fibre in his mouth, and with violence thrust it into the mass ; 



