90 A BOOK OF THE RUNNING BROOK: 



certainly those of the Thames, which far surpass 

 in flavour those of the Trent and the two Avons, 

 where they are found in abundance. 



Gudgeon like clear, moderately swift-flowing 

 rivers, with bottoms of gravel, and here and 

 there deep holes in which they congregate in the 

 winter for warmth. Mr. Frank Buckland, who 

 was an ardent admirer of gudgeon-fishing, says 

 that " favourite spots for them when in the biting 

 humour about Windsor, are the deep holes 

 dredged out of the bed of the Thames by the 

 dredging locally called ballast, barges." How- 

 ever, a gudgeon is a hardy little fish, and few 

 situations come amiss to him. He does well in 

 ponds, especially if a stream happens to run 

 through. Couch, writing some half-century ago, 

 specifies ponds near Penzance where throve 

 gudgeon remarkably well. 



Gudgeon are marvellously prolific, as may 

 well be imagined when anglers sometimes take 

 twelve dozen in a day, and often take seven or 

 eight dozen. These little fish spawn three times 

 a year, beginning in April ; and French authori- 

 ties say they require a month to hatch out, an 



