CHARR. 125 



The Charr generally inhabit the deepest parts of those 

 lakes in which they are found, and afford but little amuse- 

 ment to the angler. The most successful mode of fishing 



o o 



for them is to trail a very long line after a boat, using a 

 minnow for a bait, with a large bullet of lead two or three 

 feet above the bait, to sink it deep in the water. By this 

 mode a few may be caught in the beginning of summer, at 

 which time they are in the height of perfection, both as to 

 colour and flavour. The fly-fisher when whipping for Trout, 

 which frequently abound in the same lakes, occasionally 

 takes a Charr ; but this does not happen often : they are 

 believed to feed principally during the night. The stomachs 

 of those I have examined were empty ; but Sir William 

 Jardine has found abundance of minute Entomostraca in the 

 stomachs of some of those examined by him. The forms of 

 two species of these very minute animals will be represented 

 when describing the Vendace. 



The Charr are very seldom known to wander into any of 

 the streams by which these lakes are either supplied or 

 drained, except at the season of spawning, and their decided 

 partiality for clear water and a hard bottom is then very 

 conspicuous. Winandermere has two principal feeders, the 

 rivers Rothay and Brathay : the Rothay has a sandy bottom, 

 but the channel of the Brathay is rocky. These streams 

 unite at the western corner of the head of the lake, below 

 Clappers-gate, at a place called the Three-foot-brander, and 

 after a short course boldly enter the lake together. The 

 spawning season is in November and December ; about 

 which time the Charr in shoals make their way up both 

 these rivers, but invariably, before depositing their spawn, 

 those fish which have ascended over the sandy bed of the 

 Rothay return and pass up the rocky channel of the Bra- 

 thay.* A few Charr also spawn in the lake; and it is 



* 'i lie In. ut, in their spawning season, prefer the Rothay. 



