348 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



in particular that of our fresh-water fishes, have engaged his 

 minute attention, he is entitled to be looked up to as a high 

 authority, even when he differs, which is not often, from Yarrell. 



' From the information,' he says, ' I have been able to collect, 

 and I have made it a special subject of inquiry, the charr, in 

 most instances, does not leave its lake for the purpose of spawn- 

 ing. Remember, it is not a river fish, and as a lake fish it is 

 one of great delicacy. The only instances that have come to my 

 knowledge of its choosing the river in preference are two, and 

 these, I think, can hardly be called exceptions ; one is in the 

 instance of the charr of Windermere, some of which, not the 

 majority, run up a little way into the Brathay, and deposit their 

 spawn on its weedy, rocky bed, in its widest part, where it ex- 

 pands so as to form almost a little lake. The other is in the 

 instance of the charr of Ennerdale, which leave the lake in the 

 spawning season, and crowd into a pool, the wider part of the 

 stream, a feeder of the lake, and near its entrance into the lake, 

 called " the charr-dubb." ' Again, referring to the observations 

 of a set watcher, one in whom he held confidence, he states that 

 their spawning month is September, and that they spawn on 

 shoals in the lake. The opinion of Mr. Yarrell in regard to the 

 Windermere or northern charr, viz., that the kinds locally recog- 

 nised under the terms gilt and silver charr belong to one and the 

 same species, is adhered to by Dr. Davy, but he thinks it doubt- 

 ful in the case of the Torgoch or Welsh charr, the Salvelinus of 

 Donovan, found in the Llyn Cawellyn, and formerly in Llanberris 

 Lake, that the slight difference which occurs in the form of its 

 gill-covers and size and number of its teeth, entitles it to be classed 

 as a distinct species. He considers it, in fact, only a variety of 

 the Alpinus or Salmo urribla of Continental ichthyologists. 



The charr of Windermere are usually taken with the net, 

 occasionally by trolling with the minnow, and very rarely with 

 the artificial fly. Their unwillingness to come to the surface is 



