CHAR 



Of the huchen we have as yet no experience in Great Britain as a 

 sporting fish. They are easily reared in captivity; Mr A. N. Gilbey having 

 obtained fertile spawn from those bred in his hatchery at Denham Fishery, 

 Lord Desborough turned a number of yearlings into the upper waters of the 

 Thames in 1906, but no results have been reported by anglers so far. Should 

 this powerful fish become established in that river, there is probably lively 

 experience in store for roach and barbel fishers with light tackle; for it is 

 well spoken of by those who have caught it in its native waters as a 

 desperate hard fighter, taking fly or bait as freely as do salmon and trout. 



Now, while I accept, were it only for convenience, the generic distinc- 

 tion assigned to Salmo, Salvelinus and Hucho, I shall have something to say 

 presently in explanation of my inability to recognize more than a single 

 British species of char. 



The true chars are distributed in a remarkable manner through the 

 northern hemisphere. Abounding in certain sheets of water, usually at a 

 high elevation, they are absent from others of the same character. They 

 are usually lake -dwellers, though in Norway the northern char {S. alpinus) 

 inhabits the more northerly rivers, in some of which they have acquired or 

 retained the seasonal sea -going habit. The beautiful brook trout of North 

 America also is a char {Salvelinus fontinalis), and bright were the hopes 

 entertained about it when it was introduced some years ago as a most 

 desirable addition to the list of British sporting fishes. It was reared 

 by tens of thousands in hatcheries and distributed so widely that I sup- 

 pose there is hardly a county in England or Scotland where some attempt 

 was not made to establish these fish in lakes, ponds and streams. The 

 result, so far as I have heard, has been uniformly in accord with my own 

 experience. The young fish grow bravely for a year or so after they are 

 liberated; the lovely dark marbling on back and sides and the vermilion 

 flames which overspread their flanks towards the end of the summer, 

 combined with the perfect symmetry of their shapely bodies and small 

 heads, quite eclipse the beauty of our native trout and make them ap- 

 pear almost dowdy in comparison. Moreover, from the angler's point 

 of view, the fontinalis has this advantage over both grayling and rainbow 

 trout, that its season corresponds with those of Salmo fario, so that, 

 like that species, it is in the best condition during the summer months. 

 But all these signal merits are cancelled, so far as British anglers are 

 concerned, by the refusal of the American brook trout to accept letters 

 of naturalization in the waters of the United Kingdom. Readers may 

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