THE BREAM. 11 7 



and in ponds ; it prefers the latter. The most 

 enticing bait is a well conditioned earth-worm, al- 

 though the angler also uses paste made of bread 

 and honey, wasp grubs, grasshoppers, &c. Boiled 

 wheat serves well for ground-baiting the spot on 

 the preceding night, and some fasten a number of 

 worms to a piece of turf, and sink it to the bottom. 

 When the ground has been thus prepared, and the 

 tackle put in order, the angler should commence his 

 labours by three or four in the morning. Let him 

 approach the place with caution, so as not to be 

 perceived by the fish, and cast his hook, neatly 

 baited with a live and moving worm, in such a 

 manner that the lead may lie about the centre of 

 the prepared ground. The bream is a strong fish, 

 and runs smartly when first struck ; but after a 

 few turns he falls over on his side, and allows the 

 angler to land him without much trouble. He is 

 by no means so lively as the carp. The best hours 

 for bream are from four till eight in the morning, 

 and from four in the afternoon till eight in the 

 evening. In the river Trent, near Newark, there 

 are two kinds of bream. The common species is 

 that called the carp bream, from its yellow colour, 

 and it sometimes attains the weight of eight pounds. 

 The other species or variety, regarded by Mr. 

 Revett Shepherd as a nondescript, never exceeds 

 a pound in weight. It is of a silvery hue, and is 

 known by the name of white bream.* The bream, 



* Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 587. This is now recognised as a distinct 

 species, under the title of white bream, or bream flat, Abramis blicca 



