58 A BOOK OF THE RUNNING BROOK: 



be withdrawn from time to time, and deposited 

 elsewhere as much for their own benefit as that 

 of their parents. Two males to one female is 

 the right proportion of the sexes amongst the 

 tench, and certainly not less than three to two 

 at the outside should be turned down for breed- 

 ing purposes. The male tench is easily dis- 

 tinguishable by the larger size of the ventral 

 fin, which, as Mr. Couch remarks, " has a stout, 

 thick, crooked, and transversely-striated first 

 ray." A mixture of greaves and meal is excel- 

 lent food for tench which are being kept for 

 the table ; and a well-fed tench is a most worthy 

 fish from a gastronomical point of view. 



As regards his capabilities of affording sport 

 opinions differ, but most anglers seem to agree 

 that he is a most capricious fish. One day he 

 will take almost any bait offered to his notice ; 

 another, and another, and another, he will 

 ignore the angler's best worm so completely 

 that it would seem impossible that a tench ever 

 existed in the pond under notice. Mr. Francis 

 mentions an example of this. He was told by 

 the proprietor of a small pond in Hampshire 



