ROACH AND RUDD. 49 
dropped quietly among the shoal. There was a 
faint show of concentric rings in the water, then 
a mad plunge, and a ten minutes’ fight. The 
single strand of hair held out bravely, and a 
glorious rudd was pulled aboard, much to the 
excitement of the girls and dogs. It was a 
deep, handsome fish, with red eyes; cheek and 
gills golden yellow, this darkening to blue and 
green on the back; sides bright coppery, golden 
below; belly tinged with pink, and shot with 
metallic lustre; all the fins red; the body 
suddenly narrowing towards the tail, which is 
deeply indented. One of the characteristics of 
the rudd is its tenacity of life, fish sometimes 
showing signs of life after having been out of 
the water twelve hours. During the day the 
rudd lies in the deepest part of its haunt, making 
for the shallows at morning and evening. ‘At 
the former time it is a ground-feeder; but 
when it rises from the deeper water it takes flies 
from the surface. We came to the knowledge 
of this fact after a somewhat heated experience. 
After fishing all day and taking nothing save a few 
small roach, the sun got behind a dark thunder- 
cloud, when the rudd immediately commenced to 
rise. As twilight increased the mere seemed 
everywhere broken by bubbles, and this time, 
equipped with flies dressed on fine gut, the 
E 
