THE CHAR AND THE SMELT 273 
The char differs in habit from the brown trout (Sa/mo fario), 
with which it has such close affinity, in being intensely 
gregarious, in haunting and feeding in very deep water, and 
in spawning in large shoals without any necessity for running 
water. Deep water is more than a matter of preference with 
char—it seems to be a necessity of their existence. Formerly 
they were abundant in Loch Leven, but that fine sheet of 
water was reduced by drainage in 1830 to the extent of four 
feet and a half in depth, and forthwith the char disappeared, 
the last recorded capture being in 1837. Char only resort 
to the shallow parts of lakes in the breeding season, which 
is the same as that of trout—namely, in late autumn and 
early winter. At such times it is the practice to net them in 
Scotland, where they are seldom taken at other seasons, owing 
to the depth at which they lie. This used to be the case in 
the English lakes also, but in 1878 a legislative close-time 
was enacted for char in England, extending from October 2nd 
to March 31st, both days inclusive. The char of Windermere 
manifest a singular diversity from the usual spawning habits 
of their kind. Most of them spawn like the char in Butter- 
mere, Coniston, and the other lakes of the Cumberland district, 
namely, in the shallow water of the lake itself, but others 
affect running water. In autumn they enter two rivers, the 
Rothay and the Brathay, flowing into Windermere in the 
same channel ; but they will not tarry in the Rothay. They 
leave it almost at once and run up the Brathay, which is fed 
from Grasmere and Rydal Water, and has a temperature 
several degrees lower than the Rothay. Trout, on the other 
hand, spawn in both rivers. This preference shown by char 
for the Brathay was noted two hundred years ago by Sir Daniel 
Fleming, and has been fully confirmed of late by Mr. John 
Watson, the leading authority on the fish of the English lakes.* 
In England char are found only in Windermere, the lakes 
of Coniston, Crummock, Ennerdale, Haweswater, Buttermere, 
* The English Lake District Fisheries, by John Watson, 1899. 
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