A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



Mr. Gurney thinks these could not have 

 been Salmo trutta, 'as no sea trout could 

 ascend the river higher than the New Mills 

 at Norwich.' 



Mr. Dowell observes that the salmon trout 

 remains on our coasts at all times of the year, 

 but he has never seen it with roe. 



In the U Estrange Household Book. ' Item. 

 — Paid for a samon trout, x*" 



*io8. Brown Trout. Salmo fario, Linn. 



Narborough, Castleacre, etc. 



Bure and Yare. — Lubbock. 



Mr. Gurney thinks the supposed ' salmon ' 

 from Cossey and Swanton, mentioned in 

 Lubbock's Fauna, were of this species, also 

 the Lyng specimen recorded by Mr. Steven- 

 son, and he adds : ' It is remarkable that this 

 fish, though abundant in the Wensum, is not 

 a native of the Upper Yare, and an attempt 

 to introduce them artificially by hatching ova 

 in the Yare appears to have failed. In the 

 Tudd, a small stream intermediate between 

 the Upper Wensum and Upper Yare, trout 

 are found and grow large, but are said to be 

 descended from some artificially introduced 

 from thirty to forty years ago. If trout exist 

 in the Yare, as stated by Lubbock, I believe 

 it is only in the lower stream, after it has 

 been joined by the Wensum.' — J. H. G. 



Sir T. Browne mentions ' the trutta, or 

 trout, and the gammarus, or crawfish, but 

 scarce in our rivers ; but frequently taken in 

 the Bure or north river, and in the several 

 branches thereof ; and he adds, ' very re- 

 markable large crawfishes to be found in the 

 river which runs by Castleacre and Nerford.' 

 Query : Are they still to be found in that 

 locality ? 



One caught at Fakenham Mills, July 26th, 

 1879, weighed 9 lb. 6f oz. — T. S. 



[Lake Trout. Sa/mo ferox, Jardine. 



Mr. J. J. Coleman, of Norwich, a few 

 years since, hatched a number of the ova of 

 this variety, and introduced them into the 

 small streams near Eaton and Cossey. 



' A few more,' he says, in a letter to Mr. 

 Gurney, ' went to the Stoke (Holy Cross) 

 river, and some to the stream between Kes- 

 wick Mills and Lakenham. I gave some to 

 Mr. Cozens Hardy, of Letheringsett, but I 

 believe they were all eaten by ducks. In the 

 Eaton stream there are scarcely any to be 

 seen, though I have taken only about two 

 fish out — one of them was undoubtedly a 

 Lake trout, weighing three or four pounds.'] 



212 



[American Brook Trout, Sa/mo fon- 

 tinalis, Mitchell. 



' Mr. C. L. Buxton has placed a large 

 number of these fish in a stream at Bolwick, 

 and although at first they seemed to thrive, 

 they have since disappeared. The Fish 

 Acclimatization Society has hatched out and 

 deposited a large number of various species of 

 Salmonidas in the rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 but I cannot learn that their efforts have, at 

 present, been attended with much success.' — 

 T. S. 



Mr. Day says : ' A "Conservator " writing 

 from Shropshire to the Field, remarked that 

 he considered it useless for turning into a 

 running water, as it drops down stream, while 

 it does not attain to the size of our brook 

 trout, and in a lake will not rise well to the 

 fly. He thought it as bad as pike in destroy- 

 ing other fish, consequently he did not re- 

 commend it, although it is excellent eating, 

 and fights well when hooked.' 



'In Norfolk it is said to grow twice as 

 quickly as the brook trout' [British Fishes, 

 vol. ii. p. 120).] 



*I09. Grayling. Thymallus vexillifer, Linn. 



Mr. Patterson writes, October, 1893 : 'A 

 Mr. Pearson informs me that grayling having 

 been introduced into the Wensum, near 

 Fakenham, have become numerous and a 

 complete nuisance, bullying the trout and 

 monopolising their habitats.' 



no. Smelt. Osmerus eperlanus, h'mn. 



Very abundant in the shallow waters of 

 the Estuary, and on the Burgh Flats, Yar- 

 mouth, where they often attain a large size. 



Mr. Norman has measured some taken at 

 the latter place, which were 1 1 ^ inches long, 

 and weighed 7 oz. I have seen fish of 

 exactly the same size and weight taken on 

 the Ouse (Feb. 21st, 1874). These were 

 full of roe. In 1867 I saw one which was 

 a foot long, and which weighed only a 

 quarter of a pound. 



The smelt fishery is much damaged by 

 the practice of taking them in the rivers 

 during the spawning season. Immense quan- 

 tities are caught in what ought to be the 

 close season, when they are watery and in- 

 sipid. There ought to be a strict prohibition 

 against taking them whilst in the rivers. 



In Sir T. Browne's list mention is made of 

 ' spirinches, or smelt, in great quantity about 

 Lynn ; but where they have also a small fish 

 called a priame, answering in taste and shape to 

 a smelt, and perhaps are but a younger sort 

 thereof.' 



