FISHES OF THE DISTRICT 195 



borne in mind that the "skelly" proper is the 

 gwyniad. It is found in the Eden, Eamont, and 

 Esk ; from the Eamont occasionally finding its 

 way into the upper reaches of Ullswater. 



THE BREAM (Abramis brama} 



I confess to being considerably astonished upon 

 first reading Dr. Day's Fishes of Great Britain and 

 Ireland to find that "the lakes of Cumberland 

 produce large quantities of bream of considerable 

 size." This is an invention ; and the only excuse 

 for it is that possibly bream have been confused 

 with rudd, between which there is a considerable 

 resemblance. Even then, however, the rudd only 

 occurs in a single tarn (Whinfell). The bream is 

 absent from the Lake District. 



THE RUDD (Leuciscus erythrophthalmus) 



This, although common in southern waters, is one 

 of the most locally distributed of the fishes of the 

 district. So far as the writer is aware it occurs in 

 Whinfell Tarn only situate at the foot of Whinfell 

 Beacon. For many years the few country people 

 who fished this tarn called the rudd a bream ; but 



plentiful in almost all of our rivers and frequents deep 

 holes ; in warm weather it lies near the surface under 

 the shade of a tree. School-boys make a paste of bread 

 and some narcotic vegetable, which they throw into the 

 holes in the river where they frequent, which the skelly 

 greedily devours and soon becomes intoxicated, by which 

 means they take great numbers." Dr. Heysham. 



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