"HEN AND CHICKENS." (SEE PAGE [602].)
A number of years ago, an English naturalist was sitting on the edge of a small stream that flowed sluggishly into the sea on the coast of British Guiana, when his attention was attracted by some curious holes that lined the cliff just above the water. He had fully determined to investigate these crab-caves, as he supposed them to be, when he was startled by seeing a fish, known to the natives as the "hussar," which had been darting up and down and apparently having a rollicking time, run suddenly up into shoal water, and begin to struggle for the shore. At first the naturalist thought that it was pursued by some larger fish and that its action was due to fright; but the fish, retaining its upright position, kept wriggling on slowly up the beach by using its pectoral fins as feet, and in a few moments it disappeared within one of the supposed crab-holes.
Wondering then whether the fish were hunting crabs, or seeking its nest, the watcher soon decided the question as he saw, farther down the shore, several other "hussars" entering their nests. Springing down, he caught a number of the fishes in their homes.
The fishes had excavated the holes in the bank just above the surface of the water, and in them had formed regular nests of grass or leaves, in which the roe or eggs were deposited. The young, when hatched, at once tumbled out into the water and were then protected by the parents.
THE NEST-BUILDING FISH OF THE SEA OF GALILEE TAKING ITS YOUNG INTO ITS MOUTH FOR PROTECTION.
Such a method of rearing their young is certainly remarkable. In forming their nests, fishes sometimes remind us of the birds, and some of them indeed may be said to equal their feathered cousins in their nest-building faculty. This curious "hussar" fish may be compared with the cliff-swallow that burrows its way into the bluffs, and builds its nest several feet from the entrance, or to the Southern petrel, that excavates its nest in a still more wonderful manner.
The fish known to naturalists by the long name of Ophiocephalus, one species of which is found in the Sea of Galilee, is a singular creature. At the approach of the breeding season, it seeks a favorable place to build—generally in shallow water. There perhaps an old sunken root is found, or a projecting ledge of rock. To that spot bits of grass, leaves, growing sea-weed, and refuse of all kinds are brought by the parents, which now proceed to weave this building material into an oval shape. The threads of grass are wound in and out, entangled with one another in various ways, and the interstices filled with mud. During the construction, one or more orifices are left leading into the nest or entirely through it; the grasses are wound around the old root, and finally a compact oval nest is seen suspended and swinging in the tide,—a veritable cradle for the baby fishes.