Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-08-31


Probably the best known finny
nest builder is the little stickleback,
which is found commonly in brack-
ish water. The male alone is able
to build a nest. When the mating
season arrives the little bachelors
thoughts are centered upon provid-
ing a nest. The site selected is gem
orally among the stems of aquatic
plants, where the water always flows,
but not too swiftly. He first begins
by carrying small bits of green ma
terlal, which he nips off the stalks
and tugs from out the bottom and
sides of the banks. These he at
taches by some glutinous material
that he has the power of secreting
to the different stems destined as pill
lars for his building. During this
operation he swlms against the work
already done, splashes about and
seems to test it's durability and
strength, rubs himself against the
tiny platform and scrapes the mucus
from his sides to use as mortar. Then
he thrusts his nose into the sand at
the bottom, and, bringing up II
mouthful, scatters 1t over the foun-
dation. This is repeatsd until
enough has been thrown on to weight
the slender fabric down and give its
substance and stability; then more
twists, turns and splashings to test
the firmness of the foundation.
Collecting Materials.
"The foundation once complete,
the next operation is to collect ma
terials, chiefly pieces of straw, roots,
leaves, ETC., and build the walls of
the nest. The nest, or nursery, when
completed, is a hollow, somewhat
rounded, barrel-shaped structure,
worked together much in the same
way as the platform fastened to the
water plants, the whole firmly glued
together.
1.-THE inside of the nest is made as
smooth as possible by kind of plas-
tering system; the little architect
and builder continually goes In, then
turning round and round works the
mucus from his body on to the inner
sides of the nest, where 1t hardnes
like tough varnish. Two apertures
are constructed in the nest, one for
ingress and the other for egress
They are smooth and symmetrical as
the hole leading into a wren's nest,
and not unlike 1t.
Looking For a Mate.
"As soon as the nest is completed
Mr.. Stickleback begins to cast his
eyes around for a suitable mate.
Watch him as he swims toward a
group of the fair sex enjoying them
selves amid the water plants. Ar
rayed in his best and brightest livery,
all smiles and amiability; steadily
and in the most approved style of
stickleback love making this young
bachelor pleads his suit, generally
with success. Then the pair return
to the nest, in which the female de-
posits her eggs, emerging when the
operation Is completed by the oppo-
site hole. On the female leaving he
Immediately enters, deposits the milt
on the eggs, taking his departure
through the back door. And now
comes the saddest part of all. Imme-
diately after leaving the nest he
seeks another lady love, introduces
her as he did the first and so on, wife
after wife, until the nest is filled with
eggs, layer upon layer. He then de-
votes all his time to guarding the
eggs in his nest until the young are
Matched out and have attained an age
at which they can shift for them
selves.
Shelter For Dry Shells.
Nearly all the nest building fishes
construct nests for the purpose of
holding their eggs, but the African
mudfsh builds one for his own sal
walton. The rivers which this spe-
cies inhabits are liable to protracted
droughts each year. When such a
drought is imminent the fish retires
to the deeper water and excaVates a
pit, in which it lies, covering itself
over with thick layer of mud. Thus
sheltered it can suffer the complete
drying up of the river, as being gifted
with lungs as well as gllls 1t breathes
air directly through an aperture left
in the top of the nest. The rains of
the west season dissolve the mud and
liberate the fish. Sometimes these
fish are dug out from their nests and
eaten by the natives. Others have
been shipped thousands of miles in
those nests and when the mud was
dissolved in warmish water the fish
came forth as lively as ever.
1T is doubtful whether protective
mimicry among fishes is better emem-
plified than In the case of the species
commonly known as the marbled an
gler. AS 1t Is a poor swimmer it
spends most of its time clinging to the
floating masses Of sargassum weed,
to rest on which, from its peculiar
armlike pectoral fins, 1t is specially
fitted; and the color markings of the
fish closely resemble the weed itself,
SO much so, in fact, that it is very
difficult to distinguish it. Not only
does the weed thus furnish home
for this species, but the fish actually
constructs a nest from it and therein
deposits its eggs. Each nest is made
of one seaweed; the different 'twigs
being brought together and made fast
to each other by means Of silklike
fibers, probably secreted by the par
ent, as. in the sticklebacks. The eggs
are attached by more fibers to the
most. from which they hang like large
clusters Of grapes. To the superficial
observer the whole thing looks like
a tangled mass of seaweed floating
on the surface, most common sight,
I'm Brazil is found a fish shaped
somewhat like an ell which burrows
in the mud during the dry season.
During the wet season the animal
stores up in Its system reserve of
fat, and then when the dry season
arrives and the rivers dry up 1t con-
structs a deep tubular burrow In
which 1t doubles up with head and
fan toOathar Tho mouth NJ tho hur-