740 



THE NATURE BOOK 



these sedate fish may be seen occasionally 

 in shallow meres. 



Bream have been caiie^ht from English 

 waters up to ten pounds in weight, and 

 they are said to attain occasionally the 

 weight of twelve pounds. Six pounds is 

 a not uncommon weight in Norfolk and 



A DYKE FREQUENTED li\ KOACH AND RUDD. 



Lincolnshire for the well-fed Bream of the 

 Broads and Fen rivers. 



Roach are of the same family as the 

 Bream. In shape they are less broad ; 

 the lower fins are a bright red, and the 

 eyes are tinged with red and gold. The 

 red hue of the Roach is the origin of 

 its name in France, i.e. roiigcl, from 

 rouge. " He is a fish of no great repu- 

 tation for his dainty taste," writes Izaak 

 Walton, in " The Complete Angler." 

 In the Ardennes, Roach often formed the 

 first dish at the hotel where I stayed, and 

 I may say that the skill of the cook 

 rendered the fish quite palatable. If the 

 Roach is not greatly esteemed for its 

 edible quality, it is the fish most \-alued 

 by bottom anglers in this country and in 

 France. There are enthusiasts who con- 

 centrate all their angling cunning and 



dexterity upon the capture of Roach. In 

 Walton's day, " the great Roaches about 

 London " afforded recreation to the " best 

 Roach anglers," and this holds good to- 

 day. The Thames Roach are extremely 

 \\ary, and the methods of fishing for these 

 are necessarily " fine." 



Roach are widely distributed in our 

 waters, and they thrive in meres, ponds, 

 rivers and canals, selecting in preference 

 those parts of a pool or stream that have 

 a hard gravel bottom. They swim in 

 shoals near the bed of a river, but now 

 and then they come to the surface of the 

 water, and feed upon floating insects. 

 Roach will eat a green, soft weed that 

 grows on weir piles and the submerged 

 roots of trees, and in the lower Thames, 

 this weed is sometimes used as a bait for 

 the angler's hook. Their chief enemy 

 among fish is the Pike, and Eels and 

 Perch consume a number of the fry. 



In the summer. Roach are fond of rov- 

 ing, and they may be seen, in companies, 

 exploring the shallow dykes of Norfolk 

 and the Fen district. River Roach are 

 brighter than those bred in ponds. In 

 streams with a quick flow and a gravel 

 bed, they are silvery and handsome. 

 This is the character of the Roach of the 

 Avon and some other Hampshire rivers, 

 which produce very fine specimens. 



Roach spawn in the late spring, and 

 at this season their scales are rougher 

 than at other times. They are very pro- 

 lific fish, and when introduced to ponds 

 often increase so rapidly that they diminish 

 the food supply and degenerate into 

 dwarfs possessed of an extraordinary 

 voracity for bait, and almost devoid of 

 their normal quality of caution. In a 

 favourable environment. Roach some- 

 times grow to three pounds in weight ; 

 but a Roach of two pounds is an angler's 

 prize, and one weighing a pound is con- 

 sidered a good example in the Thames, 

 Trent, Lea, and Severn. Pennant men- 

 tions a Roach of five pounds, which was 

 captured in English waters, but there 

 is doubt concerning the accuracy of this 

 writer's records of big fish. 



Until about the year 1730 Roach were 

 netted from the Thames opposite the 

 Temple, and at Blackfriars and London 

 Bridges. For very many years the Thames 

 was so polluted below Rich.mond that few 



