Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-04-06
BIRDS OF THE SEA
cecuiiar Meet. Constructed by Murine
fishcs.

Fishes.
The nests built by some fishes nre nj.
most as remarkable as those of birds.
A writer In describing the nest Of the
ecmotilus says: was polling my boat
along In one of the little bays Of the
st Lawrence River. near the Canadian
shore. when came to y,iie of pebbles
or stones, almost cone shaped. that
reached up from the bottom ut least
four feet, coming almost to the surface.
Near by found another of those heaps
and In the course Of the summer dis
covered several. Almost everyone who
saw them thought they had been
thrown over from some vessel. but one
was located on very narrow inlet,
making this explanation impossible,
and before long discovered the origin
of the mound. 1t was veritablc castle
OF stone. weighing In all, probably.
nearly ton. and was the nest Of the
fish known very properly rs The stone.
toter, or semotilus.
The fish was about foot In length,
and the nest was the result, doubtless,
Of several years work. In almost
every case the nest was on q sandy
beach. but not in the immediate vi
cinity Of stones Of any kind, 80 each
pebble which the fish brought In its
mouth was taken from long distance,
suggestive of the labor represented by
the complete nest Several Ash worked
at one nest. and season after season 1t
grew until 1t was, as seen, four or five
feet from the bottom. really a menace
TO email boats. In the winter the top
was frozen solidly. and In the spring,
when the ice was broken up. the top
was carried away, to be removed by
the fishes, that almost invariably drop.
ped the stones or pebbles on the top, 80
that the tendency was to form cone.
On this stone fortress the eggs were
deposited and drifted into the inter.
stices Of the heap, the young finding
protection here from various preda.
tory fishes until they were large enough
TO care for themselves.
One of the most sin ular nests made
Ivy the birds of the sea Is that Of the
paradise fsh--a beautiful long filmed
creature common In the streams OF
I
pair Of these fishes during the nest
building season. and saw the begin
ming and completion Of the nest. which
40 fur as q fish's nest Gun be, was nes
thetic. was first attracted by seeing
the fish repeatedly rush to the surface
ms II to obtain air. and this was III
object, as sinking 1t elected a littl,
silvery bubble beneath the water
which rose and remained ut the sur
face. glistening with wonderful rides
cense.
This operation was continued ipdef
initely. and finally noticed that thu
bubbles were all collecting together
forming brilliant-hued raft an incl
or two In diameter. Other bubbles
were released beneath these whicl
soOn made raft Of several layers
forming conspicuous object upon tn
water, nat on top and more or les
cone.shaped below.
This was the nest Of the paradise fish
In which no foreign matter was intro
duced, the air bubbles, with their dell
cate envelope, alone constituting II
Among them the eggs were deposited
and here the young were Matched ant
held together until old enough to stra,
away, when the nest was deserted
The floating nest may he compared /
TINT Of some Of the srebes that fioa
ON the surface fastened to some weed
and rises and goes down with the tide