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IX FEATHERS AND FUR. 299 
Then he makes two doors, one at each end, round and smooth, 
and just big enough to go in nicely. 
When it is all done, and not before, he hunts up a wife, as I 
told you. And from the day she comes till the eggs are hatched, 
six weeks, he watches, and fights, to keep them safe. 
Perhaps you think he'd have an easier time if he had but one 
door to guard, but there's a very good reason why he must have 
two doors, and always keep them open. Fish eggs must have, to 
hatch them out, not warmth like hen's eggs, but running water all 
the time. 
Besides keeping away enemies, he has to turn the eggs over, 
now and then, so that the water will get to the under ones, for I 
can tell you he don't take all this trouble for a dozen or two babies, 
but for hundreds and thousands of them. 
They are a droll sight, when they are all hatched out, and Papa 
Stickleback has more trouble than ever. For besides guarding 
them, he has to keep them in the nursery. They like to get out as 
well as boys and girls, and the poor papa has to swim after them, 
and bring them back in his mouth. 
I wonder if he slaps them with his flat tail when they're 
naughty. 
You can easily see, that with such big families, plenty of 
Stickleback babies grow up, and in some rivers they are so thick 
that one can dip them out in a bowl. 
