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


Fishes.
The nests built by some fishes nre al.
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
ehore. when came to u l,ile of pebbles
or stones, almost cone.shapcd. that
reached up from the bottom at 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 a veritable castle
Of stone, weighing in all, probably,
nearly O ton, and was the nest Of the
fish known very properly as the stone
toter. or semotilus.
The fish was about q foot In length.
and the nest was the result, doubtless,
Of several years work. In almost
every case the nest was Oh 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 q long distance,
suggestive of the labor represented by
the complete nest Several fish worked
at one nest. and season after season 1t
grew until II was, rs seen, four or five
feet from the bottom. really a menace
to small boats. In the winter the top
was frozen solidly. and in the spring,
when the ice was broken up, the top
wns carried away, to he renewed by
the fishes. that almost invariably drop
ped the stones or pebbles on the top. SO
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 singular nests made
by the birds of the sea Is that Of the
paradise fish--a beautiful long filmed
creature common I'm the streams of
india. I was fortunate in observing a
pair Of these fishes during the nest.
building season. and saw the begin.
ming and completion of the nest, which,
20 far rs tish's nest can be. was aes.
thctlc. I was first attracted by seeing
the fish repeatedly rush to the surface,
as IL to obtain air, and this was Its
object, as sinking 1t elected little
silvery bubble beneath the water
which rose and remained ut the sur.
face. glistening with wonderful rides
cense.
This operation was continued lndef
initely, and finally noticed that the
bubbles were all collecting together
forming n brilliant.hued raft an incl
or two In diameter. Other bubbles
were released beneath these which
soon made a raft Of several layers
forming conspicuous object upon ths
water, fiat on top and more or less
cone.shaped below.
This was the nest Of the paradise Ash
In which no foreign matter was intro
duced, the air bubbles, with their deli
cate envelope. alone constituting 1t
Among them the eggs were deposited
and here the young were Matched ant
held together until old enough to stray
away, when the nest was deserted
The floating nest may he compared I,
TINT Of some Of the Srcbes that hoa
ON the surface fastened to some weeds
aud rises and goes down with the tide