, THE POLLAN. 160 



Coreyoni known with certainty as British at the present time) may even, in this 

 incomplete state, possess some interest. 



The earliest notice of the species that I have seen is in Harris's History of the 

 County of Down, published in the year 1744, where, as well as in the Statistical 

 Surveys of the Counties of Armagh and Antrim, it has subsequently been intro- 

 duced as one of the fishes of Lough Neagh, under the name of Pollan ; but, as 

 may be expected in works of this nature, little more than its mere existence is 

 mentioned.* 



The habits of this fish do not, with the exception of its having been in some 

 instances taken with the artificial fly, diti'er in any marked respect from those 

 of the vendace and gwyniad, and are in accordance with such species of conti- 

 nental Europe as are confined to inland waters, and of whose history we have 

 been so fully informed by Bloch. The pollan approaches the shore in large 

 shoals not only during spring and summer but when the autumn is far advanced. 

 The usual time of fishing for it is in the afternoon, the boats returning the 

 same evening. On the days of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of September, 1834, 

 which 1 spent in visiting the fishing stations at Lough Neagh, it was, along with 

 the common and great lake trout (S. Fario and .S. ferox), caught plentifully 

 in sweep-nets, cast at a very short distance from the shore. About a fort- 

 night before this time, or in the first week in September, the greatest take of 

 the pollan ever recollected occurred at the bar-mouth, where the river Six- mile 

 Water enters the lake. At either three or four draughts of the net 140 hundreds 

 (123 individuals to the hundred) or 17,22U fish were taken ; at one draught more 

 were captured than the boat could with safety hold, and they had consequently 

 to be emptied on the neighbouring pier. They altogether filled live one-horse 

 carts, and were sold on the spot at the rate of 35. Ad. a hundred, producing £23 

 6s. 8rf. From 3s. -id. to 4s. a hundred has been the ordinary price this season 

 at the lake side, or directly from the fishermen ; some years ago it was so low 

 as Is. Sd. a hundred, but at that time the regular system of carriage to a distance, 

 as now adopted, did not exist. At the former rates they are purchased by car- 

 riers, who convey them for sale to the more populous parts of the neighbouring 

 country, and to the towns within a limited distance of the lake. They are brought 

 in quantities to Belfiist, and when the supply is good the cry of " fresh pollan " 

 prevails even to a greater extent than that of '' fresh herring," though both fishes 

 are in season at the same period of the year. In the month of Jime, 1834, 5U 

 hundreds (6150 individuals) of poUans and 125 lbs. weight of trout Avere taken 

 at one draught of a net, at anotlier part of the lake, near liam's Island, which was 

 the most successful capture made there for twenty-four years. In 1834 this 

 fish was more abundant than ever before known. Like the gwyniad and ven- 

 dace, the pollan dies very soon after being taken from the water, f and likewise 

 keeps for a very short time. It is not in general estimation for the table, but is, 

 1 think, a very good and well-flavoured fish. 



Though permanently resident, the pollan is very far from being generally dif- 

 fused throughout Lough Neagh, and, uidike tlie herring, shows but little caprice 

 in the parts of the shore it periodically approaches, rarely appearing in places 

 bordering its chief haunt, and which offer to our view in every respect a similar 

 character. An example of this is afforded by a comparison of the beach between 

 the river Mayola and Toome, where it rarely occurs, and that from the Six-mile 

 .Water to Shane's Castle, its favourite resort. A few houses contiguous to the 

 latter locality were, so long as they existed, dignified with the name of Pollan's 



* In Harris's " Down," and Coole's " Armagh," it is supposed to be the same 

 as the shad. In Dubourdieu's " Antrim," the scientific appellation of Sahno 

 lavarehts is given in addition to its provincial name. 



t Pennant states this of the gwyniad, and Sir William Jardinc of the vendace 

 (Edin. Journ. of Nat. and Geog. Science) ; Dr. Knox, however, says of the latter 

 species, "that they live as long as most fishes on being removed from the water." 

 — Trans. Roy. Soc.nf Edin. vol. xii. p. 505. 



