i88 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



of the salmonidcB still abounds. In Ireland the Char is to be 

 found in Lough Esk, Lough Melvin, and in various deep waters 

 in Cork, Donegal, Wicklow, Galway, and Fermanagh, and in 

 the room of the Piscatorial Society, Holborn Restaurant, are to be 

 seen stuffed specimens from another Irish lough. 



The true home of the Char, however, is in Northern Europe, and 

 especially in Swedish Lapland, where immense numbers of these 

 fish may be taken with fly or minnow, if the angler is prepared to 

 venture thus far and to brave the intolerable swarms of mosquitoes 

 and gnats that, from June to September, wreak their bloodthirsty 

 wills upon the invader. Char grow here to a large size, as they do in 

 the waters of Iceland, five pounds being a not uncommon weight. 



For a long period there was much confusion concerning this 

 fish and its habits. Even now it is known indifferently as the Case 

 Char, Red Char and Gilt Char. It is well-established, however, by 

 this time that in its normal condition, when showing least 

 colour, the fish is called, locally, the Case Char. Before 

 spawning, when it assumes its most vivid crimson, it is the 

 Red Char : while at another season, having shed its spawn, its 

 colouring changes to a metallic orange, and it is known as the Gili 

 Char. Dr. Gunther, after extensive research, has distributed the 

 British Char in five species ; but these are little recognized 

 by the outer public, and indeed, even among some scientists, 

 are thought to be merely varieties of one species. 



For some centuries potted Char has been a famous delicacy 

 in the Lake country. Defoe seems to have known of this dainty, 

 and says, speaking of the fish in " Winandermere" (Windermere), 

 "it must needs be a great rarity since the quantity they take 

 even here is but small." But long before Defoe's time, "char 



