13<us8, Winter Residents; their Food. 121 



Hitherto we have not received any accurate or authentic 

 information as to the migration and movements nor of 

 the spawning grounds of the bass frequenting our waters. 

 There is, though, every probability that they come round from 

 the English Channel in the spring and spawn in our estuarine 

 waters during summer ; but these adult fish apparently recede to 

 the deeper water as winter arrives. What, however, is less 

 known to ichthyologists, is that the young bass remain in the 

 shallow brackish creeks during the whole of the winter months. 



Our attention was called to this subject by an old fisherman, 

 who is allowed to trawl in the Leigh Ray mouth, bringing us 

 in the fall of the year what he deemed a few young grey 

 mullet. These proved to be specimens of the bass. Our 

 further observations were continued during the winter till 

 spring. On some occasions they were got in vast numbers, and 

 at other times seldom a day passed without few or many being 

 got in the net. We measured over 200 between the 1 st November, 

 1898, and the 28th March, 1899, besides roughly examining a 

 great many more, and the remarkable fact was that the sizes re- 

 mained pretty much on a level during the whole of the five 

 months, namely from 2| to 4 inches in length. Now and again 

 a few larger ones, 5 to 6 inches, would turn up, but the great 

 majority were of the first-mentioned lengths. Even in the be- 

 ginning of January and on to March, fish were still got 2'2 

 to 2*6 inches long. From this it may be inferred that the bass 

 are slow of growth during their first winter. Moreover, there 

 is some reason for thinking that such fish as grew faster, and 

 therefore bigger and bolder, betook themselves to the Sea 

 Reach for sustenance, the smaller remaining and feeding on 

 the mussel bed within the Creek. 



The adult bass, as is well known, lives chiefly on fish and 

 crustaceans, and most actively pursues these. Among the 

 above small bass, in the Ray, in some it was difficult to be 

 sure of the nature of their food. In others, though, there could 

 be distinguished gobies or young of the eel-pout, crustaceans 



