■WITH NOTES Oy THEIE FISn. 121 



The chub is a coarse, plebeian-looking fish, with a large clumsy 

 head : a fine specimen, weighing about 4lbs., has been kindly lent 

 for exhibition by Mr. Moon. 



I have already alluded to the nests of the stickleback. This 

 pretty little creature appears to surpass all its fellows in the art of 

 nidification ; but it is well known that the chub, the dace, the 

 roach, the trout, and several other fish carefully prepare their 

 spawning-beds. All who have strolled along the banks of the 

 Gade during the spring months must have noticed that the gravelly 

 bottom in certain portions of the stream was completely laid bare 

 and almost ploughed into ridges. These ridges are the work of 

 the fish that I have just mentioned. I believe that they are made 

 principally by the female, and that she accomplishes this engineer- 

 ing feat by the vigorous action of her tail ; after depositing her 

 ova, she is said* to throw herself on her side, and, by a renewed 

 action of the tail, effectually to cover them. The extraordinary 

 quantity of the ova thus deposited is graphically described by Mr. 

 Francis, f He states that during the month of May a shallow in 

 the Thames near Marlow was completely blackened by a shoal of 

 large fish engaged in depositing their spawn. As soon as the fish 

 left, a troop of about five-and-twenty swans, led by a patriarchal 

 old villain, came sailing up the river, and immediately commenced 

 ripping up the spawning-beds and devouring the spawn. For ten 

 days these swans gorged themselves to repletion night and day, 

 and, "I believe," says Mr. Francis, "that they must have 

 devoured in that time a small boat load of spawn." 



The Peech {Perca fluviatilis). — With the exception of the trout, 

 the perch is decidedly the most handsome and distinguished in 

 appearance of all our fresh-water fish. Like the chub, it prefers 

 deep water, and as it slowly floats along the bottom, it presents to 

 the observe!', with its beautifully-striped zebra-like body and sharp 

 prickly fins, as striking and interesting a picture as our streams can 

 anywhere afford. 



The perch is abundant in most rivers ; at Hunton Eridge it 

 attains a considerable size, and I venture to direct your attention 

 to two fine specimens taken last winter, within a stone's throw of 

 my garden. Mr. Eooper records a very curious fact in reference 

 to this fish. He writes as follows :J — "I have hardly, if ever, 

 opened a fish that did not prove to be a female, and, at whatever 

 time of the year, always with spawn fully developed, yet the 

 spawning time of the perch is in April or May." 



The Ettffe [Acerina vulgaris). — Closely allied to the perch, but 

 smaller, and distinguished from it by the brown spots that abound 

 on the upper portion of its body, and by its continuous dorsal fin, 

 is the rufte or pope. I have never seen a specimen of this fish, but 

 Mr. Fry informs me that he has succeeded in capturing several. 



The Ekeam (Abramis Brama). — I believe that this fish is only 



* Hamilton, ' British Fishes,' vol. i, p. 101. t ' Fish Culture,' p. 203. 



X ' Thames and Tweed,' p. 51. 



