62 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 
depths, and once driven away the fish are slow in 
returning. 
The diet of the chub consists of insects, 
worms, and larve, and it takes a good deal of 
its food from the surface. Fish of from two. 
to three pounds are not uncommon, and _ indi- 
viduals have been known to attain to four 
and five pounds in weight. Spawning takes 
place during the earlier spring months on the 
shallower portions of the chub’s haunts, and at 
this time the fish are much less shy than ordinarily. 
The chub may be said to be generally distributed 
in the south, becoming rarer in the northern 
counties. It affects rivers that have deep, 
shaded holes, and is rarely or never found upon 
rocky beds or in quickly running water, 
