THE BREAM 205 



from Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall ; it is 

 common in Ireland. 



Bream of 8 or 9 lbs. are considered large, but 

 there is a record of a 17-lb. fish from the Trent, 

 and a still greater size is attained on the Continent. 

 One a little less than a foot in length is figured on 

 PI. XXIX. 



Like the White Bream, this species is found only 

 in lakes or sluggish streams ; it is especially abundant 

 in the Norfolk Broads and in some of the Irish 

 lakes. It swims in large shoals, and on warm 

 summer days a number of these fish may sometimes 

 be seen lying motionless near the surface of the 

 water ; as a rule, however, they keep on or near a 

 weedy or muddy bottom in fairly deep water ; here 

 they feed greedily on the weeds or on organic 

 matter which they extract from the mud, also on 

 insect larv^, little shellfish, etc. 



The Bream is of a shy and cunning disposition ; 

 it is said sometimes to escape its enemies by stirring 

 up the ooze in order to cloud the water, and to lie 

 flat on the bottom or burrow in the mud so that 

 the seine passes over it. The spawning usually 

 takes place in May, when the shoals repair to 

 shallows near the banks, making a great noise, 

 swimming near the surface, leaping, splashing, and 

 rolling about. The females deposit their roe on 

 the weeds and rushes, against which they rub them- 

 selves ; after a few days the whole shoal make their 

 way back into the deep water. The eggs are very 

 numerous ; according to different authors they hatch 

 in from one to three weeks ; the young Bream are 

 often found on the shallows in company with the 

 White Bream, from which the fishermen usually 



