~:lebacl:s o.nd other Xest-maJnng FUh. 251 



STICKLEBACKS AS~D OTHER NEST-MAKING FISH. 



2~ BBS BKT. W« HOUGHKHT, 3C.A., ¥.1 



3c much lias of late yean been written on tne subject of 

 Sticklebacks' neste, that few people, who take any interest in 

 Xatural History pursuits, can be ignorant of this extremely 

 interesting fact ; but, though the fa d it a elf may be well known, 

 I will ventur- k aay thai ~ery few naturalists, comparati~ " 

 sj.eT^tii . - .: "- " :r": r~s: ".. .. : ~s_ - z-'-\~. '.---. 

 many would experience at first some little difficulty in dis- 

 covering one. With a view, therefore, of facilitating the 

 Bovery ;:" sticklebacks' nests this season, let me ask the 

 reader to accompany me, in thought, any day in the months of 

 3Iay and June, to a pond or shallow stream. ^Ye will take with 

 us a hand-net, and a tin or zinc can, for the capture of speci- 

 mens, and a separate vessel for the nests and eggs. Let us 

 suppose that we are on the bank of a clear pond ; now for 

 a stickleback's nest. I lie flat down upon the grass, and 

 gently move awav -with mv hand the floating leaves of the 

 pond- weed [Poiamogek and the green conferva, and 



look about me. Ah ! do you see that little fish with crimson 

 breast, and eyes like emeralds sparkling ; see how wide awake he 

 looks ; depend upon it he has a nest not far avray. And here 

 it is, very plainly to be seen, partly covered with the sand and 

 mud at the bottom of the water. Do you notice those roundish 

 holes in the nest ? Just touch it with the end of your walking- 

 stick. Bravo, little stickles! he is :.: you like a bull-dog. 

 How angry he is ; if his power were equal to his will, he would 

 swallow us all up. Xow we can easily catch him. B : Z put 

 my net near his nest, and over the net he swims, and out : 

 the water he comes, and I put him in my coHecting tin. H 

 let us watch the nest, and see what will happen. Here they 

 come, a hungry group of sticklebacks of all ages, and, alas I 

 for the depravity of piscine nature, they are attacking the 

 nest, and devouring the precious morsels inside. Let us 

 : :re the father fish to his native element and his familiar 

 haunts. Quick, or the work of destruction will be comp. 

 In he goes, and for a moment seems to have lost all recolie;: : :: 

 of past events. But no ! he is tc coming to himself/' and wit- 

 nesses that marauding crowd, and now he rushes boldly to the 

 rescue of his house and family, first tilting at one and then at 

 other of the enemy, until, mirabile dictu, he has driven every van- 

 quished foe far from the scene of carnage, a very Diomede ir. 

 fray — 



3 : raged Tvdides, boundless in his ire, 

 DroTe armies back, and made all Tpot retire."' 



vol. vn. — xo. rr. s 



