74 BOTTOM OR FLOAT-FISHING. 



this fish, of which I took several dozen, all the red 

 tints of the Rudd, even including its characteristic 

 red eyes (or more correctly, irides), were replaced 

 by various tints of lemon and bright yellow, the 

 larger the fish, the deeper being the yellow 

 colouring. The specimens of which some are 

 now in the British Museum present other, and in 

 some points structural differences. 



In their natural habitats the Roach and Rudd 

 differ, inasmuch as whilst the former species thrive 

 and abound equally in ponds and rivers, the latter 

 are comparatively confined to waters of a stagnant 

 character, or lagoon-like expanses connected by 

 rivers, like some of the Norfolk broads, in which 

 the Rudd are known to abound. The most re- 

 markable water for Rudd with which I am per- 

 sonally acquainted, is Slapton Ley, in Devonshire, 

 where these fish not only breed in vast numbers, 

 but attain an unusual size, from I to 2 pounds 

 being a weight of common occurrence. 



The Rudd spawns in April, or early in May, 

 according to the forwardness of the spring, and the 

 Roach about a month later, when they usually 

 ascend from the lower parts of the rivers, fighting 



