276 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
displayed by English and Welsh char. Salmo (Salvelinus) 
Grayi is the “ fresh-water herring” of Lough Melvin. The 
pectoral fins are longer than those of Cole’s char. Both 
varieties are marked with pink or orange spots on the sides. 
British char do not take high rank as a sporting fish owing 
to their chronically abysmal habits; nevertheless, they are 
Angling for highly prized by sportsmen on account of their 
har, beauty and mystery. To put it colloquially, they 
have all the makings of a game fish, but their mode of 
life makes them difficult of access. In the north of Europe 
char, both the exclusively fresh-water species and a sea-going 
variety or species, rise freely to the fly, and run to weights 
of 3 lb. and 4. 1b. But in our islands it is the exception to 
kill char with the artificial fly, even in lakes which are known 
to contain great shoals of them. A good basket of trout, 
says Mr. Watson, from Haweswater or Windermere, is pretty 
sure to contain a char or two; but although they come to the 
surface and feed greedily when the May-fly and bracken-clock 
are on, and again in autumn when winged ants are about, 
they spend most of the summer in the depths, hunting small 
crustaceans, as is supposed. Locally, when char take to 
surface-feeding, they are said to be “ belbing.” 
The usual way of taking char with the rod in the English 
lake is with a couple of ash saplings about 12 feet long 
placed in the stern of a boat. To each line is attached a 
plumb of lead weighing 131b. or 2 |b., above which are 
attached four to six tail-lines carrying metal spinning-baits. 
No reel is used ; the line, about 26 yards long, trails behind 
the boat as it is rowed over the deep water, and a bell on 
each rod gives warning when a fish has struck. Six to eight 
fish, averaging half a pound, are reckoned a fair day’s take ; 
a score of char is considered unusual fortune at the present 
time, but it is on record that, many years ago, one boat with 
two men took seventy-five in a single day. The annual 
charge for a licence for plumb-line fishing is 5s. Far the 
