244 SALMONIDtE OF BRITAIN. 



in tlie season ; in Cony Lair, and in Lochs Ericlit and Fruchie. Borley Loch, in 

 Sutherlandshire, is noted because it contains no other fish than smallish char, and 

 in Loch Donle, it is said, this fish sometimes attains the unusual weight of 2| lb. 

 In some of the Irish loughs char have been caught by anglers when salmon 

 fishing with fly, and a specimen so taken from Lough Conn in 1867 was the 

 means of determining that char were present in that water. A similar remark 

 applies to a char caught in Lough Inagli about twelve years later, and a writer in 

 ISTo. 604 of The Field says in Lough Moy they are caught both in nets and on 

 night lines, and in the same paper of December 25th last, a correspondent writes of 

 having killed char with fly in loughs Ennel and Owel, Westmeath ; Glendalough, 

 Derry, Clare, and in Connemara, and Currane at Ballinahinch." 



Breeding. — That char may be annual breeders was shown at Howietoun where 

 a Loch Rannoch male was successively employed for this purpose in the season of 

 1882, and again in 1883, but it died prior to the season of 1884. The time of 

 breeding is from* about November to February or March. At this time, at least 

 in Windermere, their colours and spots are more intense, the mouth and fins 

 become of a dark yellow or orange, and they are covered with a thick slime. 

 These fish form a redd similar to salmon or trout. f 



Davy observed that the char more commonly avoids than seeks running water 

 for the purpose of breeding, and that the gravelly and rocky shoals of the lakes it 

 inhabits are its favourite breeding locab'ties, rather than the bed of a river 

 or brook where the water is in rapid motion (Physiological Researches, p. 272). 

 Artificially changing the water daily has been found sufficient in order to hatch 

 the eggs of these fish. He also tried two lots of young char from January .Slst 

 to April 1st, one brood in its globe was shut up in a dark cupboard, and only 

 taken out for a minute or two daily to change the water and give food. The 

 second was kept in the light, but no dilference in size could be perceived. 



The following is an extract from The Field (March 29th, 1884), of an account 



* " The remarkable fact is reported from Transtein, in Bavaria, of a number of char {Salmo 

 salvellmis) having been captured from the large char species kept in the Koenigsee, nearBerchtes- 

 gaden, which, upon examination, had been found ready for spawning. About seventy-six of these 

 fish, varying in weight from 6 lb. to 14 lb., have been caught towards the latter part of June, and 

 during the months of July and August, upon all of which, spawners and milters, the signs of 

 immediate spawning were clearly observed. The usual spawning season of the char, according 

 to the classification of the Salmonida, being October and November, leads to the question 

 whether there exist now two species of char, and how the spawning in Midsummer of some 

 of them can be explained. The German Fishing Gazette states that the ova derived from the 

 giant char fish lately caught, have been sent to the fish-hatching establishments of Saint 

 Bartholomae, after the young fry acquired from the ova of the char during the spawning season 

 of November and December last, had been first removed. The hatching of the ova from the 

 summer spawning is proceeding quite satisfactorily at St. Bartholomae and Transtein." A 

 writer in Loudon's Magazine of Nat. Hist., 1832, v, p. 31G (signing himself O.), stated, "Windermere 

 is fed by two streams, which unite at the head of the lake, named the Brathy and the Kothay ; 

 the bottom of the former is rocky, and that of the latter sandy. On the first sharp weather which 

 occurs in November, the char makes up the Brathy in large shoals for the purpose of spawning, 

 preferring that river to the Eothay, probably owing to the bottom being rocky, and resembling 

 more the bottom of the lake ; and it is singular that those fish which ascend the Eothay, 

 invariably return and spawn in the Brathay ; they remain in this stream and in the shallow 

 parts of the lake until the end of March." Mr. Braithwaite, Salmonida of Westmoreland, 1884, 

 p. 7, observed of the "gilt char" and "case char," "it is well known that they spawn at 

 diffei-ent periods between the end of September and beginning of March " (p. 7). 



f Mr. C. L. Jackson, Land and Water, August 14th, 1884, observed, " I have seen salmon on 

 the redd, but could not say distinctly how they were working. Lately, however, I had a very 

 good chance of watching char in one of the Southport Aquarium tanks — a far better opportunity 

 than can possibly be afforded by looking down upon a fish in a river. We obtained a fine shoal 

 of char from Windermere at the opening of the season this year. Soon after they came, I saw 

 one of them had not spawned, and was busy making its nest. Its modus operandi was exactly as 

 described by Mr. Buckland. It swam slowly down towards the selected place as though concentrat- 

 ing its energies ; when it arrived over the spot, it threw itself partially on its side, and dropping the 

 hind part of the body, it gave several violent blows (three or four) with its tail, scattering the 

 gravel right and left. The impetus of the blows not only scattered the gravel, but drove the fish 

 upwards in a slanting direction. Quietly allowing the force to expend itself, it then turned 

 round, swam slowly back, and repeated the process time after time, until it had made quite a 

 large hole." 



