THE BLEAKi 147 



In great agonies at certain seasons. 



red worms, green flies, and grasshoppers with 

 their legs cut off, in June and July. 



Bream swim together in shoals, and may be 

 caught in a gentle stream, the water being rather 

 thick, and a good gale of wind. In ponds, the 

 higher the wind and the rougher the waves, the 

 better. Of rivers, the Mole in Surry, about 

 Dorkingbridge, and upwards, is noted for large 

 bream, as also the Medway in Kent ; and they 

 prefer the deepest and widest places. It is ra- 

 ther surprising that this fish is not mentioned in 

 some of our natural histories. 



THE BLEAK, 



BY some termed the fresh-water sprat, and*by 

 others the water-swallow, on account of its nim- 

 bleness in catching flies, is from two to five or 

 six inches in length ; the head is small, and the 

 skull transparent; the eyes large, with a blood- 

 coloured spot on the lower side ; the irides of a 

 pale yellow , the under jaw the longest, the gills 

 silvery; the body is slender, and greatly compres- 

 sed sideways, not unlike that of the sprat ; the 

 sides and belly silvery ; the fins pellucid, the la- 

 teral line rather crooked ; the scales are large, 

 and fall off very easily ; the tail is forked. 



At certain seasons the bleak seems to be in 

 great agonies ; they tumble about near the sur- 

 face of the water, and are incapable of swimming 



TS 



