FOOD AND HAUNTS OF CHARR. 21 



escape us, and we put up a cast of brown trout flies, 

 in lieu of the larger salmon fly we had previously 

 been using, and these we succeeded in casting in the 

 midst of a rising of bubbles, and this time not in 

 vain, for the next instant we not only had a rise 

 but a hooked fish, which eventually proved to be a 

 charr of the northern species, and was found to be 

 gorged with small sticklebacks. Subsequent expe- 

 rience proved that the eruption referred to was 

 simply a shoal of these tiny fish clearing the water 

 in their frantic and futile endeavours to elude their 

 enemies. The fish here spoken of was sent to the 

 proprietor, Colin Campbell, Esq., of Loch Nell, as we 

 were informed that the existence of charr in the loch 

 was unknown and unsuspected. We were afterwards 

 assured that such was the case by the proprietor, who 

 wished to know the precise fly that had allured the 

 specimen forwarded. Since then, charr have been 

 regularly taken in their proper season. Charr come 

 into shallow waters to spawn during the autumn, 

 often running into the lake feeders to perform this 

 operation, when nets are frequently illegally used for 

 their destruction. Charr are classed with trout under 

 the new Fresh Water Fishery Acts, and the close 

 time is therefore the same. The POLLEN, or 

 POWAN, are confined to the Irish lakes, Lough 

 Neagh being especially noted for these fish ; Lough 

 Erne, and Lough Lomond, too, are stocked with 

 them. They feed, like the charr, upon the fly and 

 other aquatic insects, etc. The prevailing colour is 

 silvery grey, the head and back being bluish brown 



