68 



THE RUDD. 



shoals of other species, and this is more especially the case 

 during the spawning season. Hence the saying : " Sarfven 

 i hvar lek," that is, " the rudd in every lek." From its asso- 

 ciating thus with other fish, as well as for the reason that 

 no considerable number of them ever spawn together, it 

 has been inferred that the rudd has not a special lek of its 

 own, which notion, however, is altogether unfounded. 



The spawning season with the rudd is at the end of May, 

 or beginning of June. The lek, which is carried on in some 

 weedy shallow, is attended with a kind of sucking sound, 

 arising from the fish pointing their snouts upwards, and 

 emitting air bubbles, which burst as soon as they reach 

 the surface. The female deposits her roe amongst river 

 horse-tail (Equisetum fluviatile, Linn.) She is prolific, up- 

 wards of one hundred thousand eggs having been found 

 in an individual. These, however, do not come from her 

 all at one time, but by degrees. The eggs are vivified in 

 from eight to ten days. The fry are of slow growth, and 

 it is not until the second year that they are believed to be 

 capable of propagating their species. 



The rudd does not attain to any great size. Kroyer 

 speaks of fish of near a foot in length, and a pound in 

 weight, but such I should imagine are rare. 



The Bleak (Ldja, Sw. ; C. Alburnus, Linn.) abounded 

 with us, and this is the case throughout the greater part 

 of Scandinavia, as high up as the sixty-sixth degree of north 

 latitude ; that is, within the Swedish territories, for it is said 

 but with what truth I know not that it does not inhabit 

 Norway. It is also plentiful in the eastern Skargard. 



The bleak prefers clear, and more especially running water, 

 with a stony or sandy bottom. Jt is seldom met with in 



