COMMON SEA BREAM. 91 



when the occupants of the boat let down lines, 

 each having two hooks on them, which are kept 

 apart by a spreader from nine inches to a foot in 

 length, and two fish at a time are frequently pulled 

 in. All kinds of fish are caught when fishing for 

 chads, but more especially mackerel, which are 

 attracted by the oil which floats away from the 

 stocking, and are caught with a light line, which 

 is carried away some distance by the tide ; the 

 mackerel caught in this way are considered finer 

 than when taken in a net, as these fish generally 

 feed singly, and are much fatter than those which 

 feed in shoals. The bream is most abundant in 

 summer and autumn, but in winter it retreats al- 

 together into deep water. The sea bream is said 

 to be a solitary fish, as when they most abound 

 the assemblage is formed for no other purpose 

 than the pursuit of food ; but I know of excep- 

 tions to this, for in the year 1847, one evening in 

 August, I was rowing up the coast from Plymouth 

 to Salcombe, and when off Stoke Point saw a 

 vast shoal of these fish, apparently playing on the 

 surface of the water, showing their round red backs 

 as they tumbled over and over like the porpoise, 

 the sun shining on them as they flashed out of 



