-M^ THE BREAM. 



rivers and broads have been noted for them, nearly time out 

 of mind. The Nene is also a good bream, river ; so is the 

 Witham and some of the drains that intersect the county of 

 Lincoln ; while last, but not least, the Trent has some good 

 -ones in many of its deep, quiet holes. Coming further 

 south, the Medway, the Arun, the Mole, and the Thames, can 

 be set down as breami rivers, and the Warwickshire Avon 

 must not be forgotten, although this latter streami is in the 

 West Midlands. They are generally found in the deepest, 

 ^quietest parts of the river, and are often packed together in 

 very large numbers. Bream spawn in June, and generally 

 about the time that the dog weed is in flower. This weed 

 grows in large patches on the surface of some waters, and 

 bears a profusion of small white flowers. Riverside men 

 call this weed the " bream weed," and certainly it is a most 

 appropriate name, for as soon as the flower appears then 

 the bream may be looked for on the shallows, scouring themr 

 selves among the weeds. It is an extraordinary sight at this 

 time to see a shoal of Trent bream, probably some thousands 

 in number, extending in unbroken ranks for hundreds cf 

 yards, rolling, twisting, diving, splashing, and threading 

 these weeds in every direction for sometimes two or three 

 days together; so reckless are they at this time that they 

 -can be scooped out with a landing net. 



In the deep, sluggish waters of the Ouse, immediately 

 after spawning and scouring, they come to the surface in 

 huge shoals and swim close above the water, and so close 

 together that they nearly touch each other, and perambulate 

 backwards and forwards up and down the centre of the 

 river. After two or three days of this performance they 

 vanish into deep holes. 



About the beginning of July I have noticed another pecu- 

 liarity of the bream : shoals of them, w^ould migrate tO' fresh 

 swims. I noticed this more particularly about three weeks 

 or so after they had done scoturing themselves. I have 

 observed shoals on the " flit " even so late as the middle of 

 August; but as a general rule this migration occurs during 

 July. At these times they swim in crowds close to the sur- 

 face, even showing their back fins above the water. An old 

 friend and I were once lucky enough to see a huge shoal that 



