196 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



upon taking a couple of fish, each of which weighed 

 nearly I lb., the writer saw that they were rudd, 

 and Dr. Giinther subsequently identified the species 

 from specimens submitted to him by Mr. Joseph 

 Severs, of Kendal. The rudd has been called a 

 bastard-bream and a bastard-roach, and at one time 

 it was thought to be a hybrid between these two. 

 It is, however, a distinct species. -In its time of 

 spawning, food, haunts, and general characteristics 

 the rudd has much in common with the roach, and 

 the description by a friend, upon being shown two 

 fish, as " a roach done in gold instead of silver " is a 

 happy one. The rudd is a capricious feeder, and 

 after failing upon several occasions to take a single 

 fish with ordinary tackle, the writer once, in a com- 

 paratively short time, took upwards of a hundred, 

 which weighed nearly as many pounds. These 

 were taken on an old trout-cast dressed on gut, at 

 the end of a summer's day just as the sun was 

 sinking. This was merely a fortunate accident, as 

 the cast was put on only half in earnest after seeing 

 the rudd sailing about on the top of the water, 

 taking in various kinds of small flies. A peculiarity 

 of this take was that every fish was almost the 

 same size, I lb. During the day the rudd lies in 

 the deepest part of its haunt, making for the 

 shallows at morning and evening. At the former 

 time it is a ground feeder ; but when it rises from 

 the deeper water it takes flies from the surface. A 

 local name for the rudd is "red-eye," and of all 

 coarse fish it is probably the handsomest 



