Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-05-05

! bright round eyes that we're indeed sug-
gestiye of robin.
Teddy gasped.
THAT amt no robin" said he. with a
fine disregard of grammar.
Indeed it is. That is the robin that
lives in the sea, and if you notice its
hard, scaly head and its we'll plated
body you will see that a stone or two
might not do it a great deal of dam
age
Can 1t fy?" asked Teddy's little
brother
NO; it floats through the water. It's
two wide side fms can be expanded like
a butterhy's wings and help to support
it's heavy body when it floats or hangs
suspended in the water. You can see
that it is beautifully colored. The
wings, as you call them, although they
are fins. not wings at all, are a hand
some light brown. and the skin is
shade darker, although in the water the
fish is able to change its color at will"
THE sea robin doesn't sing, though"
criticized Teddy. Fish don't sing. so
how can 1t be a robin?"
Go little slowly. my boy caution
ed the professor. This fish does sing.
If you could hear school of them ly-
ing in shallow water at low tide, you
would change your mind. Their song
is not so pretty as that of the robins
in the tree tops, for the sound they
make is merely low granting which
at distance sounds like the lowing of
cattle"
The boys stared at the FISH awhile
longer, and then one of them said:
'tBut does it eat worms, just like
tree robins?"
The professor reluctantly admitted
that it did not
1T eats other and smaller fishes. You
will notice that it has strong jaws and
teeth. 1t is fond of young crabs and
shrimps and will not disdain a mouth
full of beach fleas if it can do not bet
ter"
1T has claws something like cat"
Mrs. Tompkins observed sagely. What
does a fish do with claws?"
We'll, this fish uses these claws,
which are really part of its lower fms,
as feet with which to crawl over the
sandy bottom Of the sea, and it finds
them useful for scratching at the sea-
weed to dislodge the small ocean crea-
lures that may be hidden there. The
sea robin scratches for living just as
robin redbreast does. The young sea
robins are born orphans, as most fishes
| are, for the mother leaves the spawn
| Gas fishes eggs are called near the
shore, where the sunlight will warm
them and help them to hatch.
The eggs of the sea robin are a
bright orange, and sometimes early in
/ August they are cast UP by the waves
along the western shore of the Atlantic
coast, along which the sea robin lives.
This fish swims in both deep and shall
low water, for its bony head is strong
and can stand the pressure at great
depths. The sea robins are curious
creatures and will swim to the surface
and eye passing boats or fishermen
sometimes to their own undoing''
rs sea robins good to eat?" asked
the smallest boy.
We'll" said the professor, that Is a
question. In England fish of the same
family are eaten, and the fesn of the
Sea robin is sweet and palatable but
there is so little on their bones that
they make but scanty fare
Now, children, go to bed said their
mother. And the two boys were sent
away, Teddy to dream that the robins
he had stoned had changed into ocean
robins that chased him through the
great deep, every now and then prod
ding him with their sharp spines and
granting a most doleful song about
naughty boys who stone robins.