50 THE WHITE BREAM. 



said that gentleman, " the bream is very abundant in the 

 districts bordering upon the Harad of Ydre in Ostergoth- 

 land, where in former times that fish was also numerous, not 

 one is now to be found. Their absence is looked upon by 

 the peasants as a judgment for the misdeeds of a former 

 clergyman of theirs, who having on one occasion lost his 

 net, proclaimed from the pulpit that it was stolen, thereby 

 bringing scandal on his congregation. The missing net, 

 however, was afterwards found filled with decomposed bream 

 in another part of the water, where it had been carried by a 

 heavy storm which arose during their lek." 



The White Bream, or Breamflat (Bjorkna, Sw. ; C. Blicca, 

 Bloch), was common with us, and also in almost all the lakes 

 and rivers in the more central and southern parts of Sweden, 

 but with its limits to the northward Swedish naturalists seem 

 unacquainted. It is an inhabitant likewise of the eastern 

 Skargard. 



From its likeness to the young of the yellow bream, 

 it is frequently mistaken for that fish. It feeds on 

 grass, worms, insects, and their larvae, and is said to be 

 the most ravenous of the bream tribe. From its gluttonous 

 propensities, indeed, it has acquired amongst fishermen the 

 nickname of the atare, or (great) eater. To the angler he 

 is a great annoyance ; for though he makes his approaches 

 to the hook with more avidity than most fish, he generally 

 contrives to nibble away the bait, and consequently escapes 

 capture. 



Though so voracious, it is always lean, from which cause, 

 coupled with being small and bony, it is but little sought 

 after, and is seldom eaten, excepting when no other fish are 

 procurable. 



