260 Sticklebacks and other Nest-making Fish. 



But lie has other work to do, he must repair the home of 

 his young family so ruthlessly attacked ; and now he hastens 

 hither and thither, carrying in his mouth little bits of weed 

 and stick, and dubs them into his nest, till the work of repair 

 is completed. But we will try to find another nest, in order 

 to examine it somewhat minutely. Now that the eye is 

 familiar with the appearance of a nest, there will be no 

 difficulty in discovering many more. There, you may count 

 no less than four within a radius of a couple of yards ! Let us 

 take this one for examination. . Bah ! it has collapsed and lost 

 its form now that it is out of the water ; but see, embedded in the 

 tangled mats of grass rootlets and decayed conferva filaments, 

 lies a cluster of eggs. Look closely at it. What are those 

 little black specs ? Why, the eyes of the young ones to be 

 sure ; and see how the embryos jerk themselves about within 

 the egg shell. We will catch the father fish if possible, and 

 take the nest and eggs home to watch the development in a 

 basin of water. Poor fellow ! he evidently has a father's 

 heart, and misses his loss. He will, however, soon make 

 himself at home in the aquarium, and you will have the op- 

 portunity of witnessing further instances of parental affection 

 in a small fish. You will see him frequently poised over the 

 nest and agitating the water briskly with his fins. This 

 he does in order to bring fresh currents to the eggs. In a 

 few days, perhaps, the young ones will begin to appear — 

 strange looking creatures to be sure, each with an unde- 

 veloped mouth, and an attached yolk sac, the contents of 

 which become gradually absorbed by the body of the fish, and 

 which are its sole nutriment in the early stages of its exis- 

 tence. If you move away a little fellow from the nest by 

 means of a camel's-hair pencil, you will see the father fish 

 start off in pursuit of the wanderer, seize him in his mouth, 

 and shoot him out into the nest. Having " no ticket of 

 leave/' he is not allowed to stir above an inch or two from the 

 precincts of the house.* Woe betide any other fish or small 

 animal that dares approach the home of the little family. 

 Quick as thought Paterfamilias rushes at him with dorsal and 

 pectoral spines bristling horribly, and pursues him " tooth and 

 nail" with relentless fury. If you come to this same pond in 

 about three weeks' time, you ma3 r see many little groups of small 

 fry disporting themselves close to the nest, into which they im- 

 mediately pop should an enemy make an assault at an unguarded 

 moment. 



Well, all this is extremely interesting, and you ask 



* Mr. J. IT. Horsfall lias observed that the male fieh, on some occasions, devours 

 his own infants. See Intellectual Obseeveb, No. xxv., Feb. 1864, p. 5. 



