A DATS GROUND-FISHING. 107 



as I took one on a former visit, not many days previous ; but 

 we look on these as chance fish, and the more to be welcomed 

 when ground-fishing, because not to be reckoned on with cer- 

 tainty. 



' But what have I here ? ' exclaims one of our little party, 

 handling his line most gingerly, a course rendered necessary by 

 the successive sharp tugs of a fish evidently of a different kind 

 from any yet taken, and which, from its action, was more likely 

 to part the snood or break its hold than any previously hooked, 



' I reckon 'tis a Curner,' observes Rogers. 



' Or a Baker,' I suggested ; the former the local name for 

 the Wrasse, or Rock-fish in its different varieties (Fam. La- 

 bridcz), the latter for the Braize or Bekker, a Blue-Bream 

 (Fam. Sparidcz\ which is here called ' Baker,' being commonly 

 cooked in an oven, after a nicely seasoned veal stuffing has 

 been introduced into his penetralia, supplemented by a modi- 

 cum of beef gravy in the dish. 



Whether Curner or Bekker, however, both gaff and hand- 

 net were ready to aid in getting him on board, which, being 

 safely accomplished, my conjecture proved the correct one, for 

 a Bekker or Braize it turned out to be. This fish varies from 

 i J Ib. to 4 Ibs. in weight, and I do not recollect to have met 

 with any small ones ; in colour they are blue on the back, the 

 sides silvery, but change their colour entirely after capture and 

 become almost black, whence their name of Black Bream. 

 The back is very much hogged and carinated, and the dorsal 

 fin, when not erected, is received into a deep sulcus, or furrow. 

 The teeth are large for the size of the fish, and always strike 

 the attention of the observer, as the lips shrink back and leave 

 them prominently bare. They are by no means a plentiful 

 fish either here or on the coasts of the Channel Islands, and 

 are never specially fished for like the Sea-Bream. 



'Well, Rogers,' exclaimed one of our party, 'when do you 

 intend to haul up that Conger?' addressing the fisherman, 

 who, leaving us to the capture of such small deer as Pout &c., 

 was endeavouring to coax one of those slimy monsters from his 

 lurking-place amongst the rocky ground over which we were 

 moored. In this he had so far succeeded as to feel several bites 



