NOTES. 217 



Ruffe are disliked by anglers, many of whom think that 

 when a ruffe is taken there are no other fish in the swim, 

 or that others will not bite. This may sometimes be 

 the case, but it is not my experience, as I have caught 

 roach, dace, gudgeon, and ruffe out of the same swim, 

 and ruffe were not the first or last fish taken. I have 

 only taken them in the Thames at the main mouth of the 

 Wey, in a deep, quiet swim where the bottom is rather 

 muddy, but it is now some two years or more since I 

 have taken one. 



Bullheads, or Miller's Thumbs, have the largest heads 

 and mouths, for their size, of any fresh-water fish I have 

 ever caught ; they look far more like a marine than a 

 river fish. They have a wicked appearance, the eyes are 

 set close together on the top of the head, the pectoral 

 fins large, and the dorsal fins extending almost entirely 

 along the back. In colour they are brown backed, with 

 dark bars, and very light coloured on the belly. Once, 

 when drifting down stream in a punt and looking out for 

 gudgeon on a shallow, I saw a bullhead rolling over and 

 over along the bottom, and scooped him out with a bait- 

 net, thinking that he was dead ; but he had only gorged 

 a minnow about half his own size, and so well had he got 

 the minnow down that I could not separate the two ; the 

 minnow broke in the attempt to extricate it. I kept the 

 bullhead for some time in the punt-well and returned 

 him to the river none the worse for his gluttony. This 

 is almost on a par with the big pike in the Hampshire 

 Avon that gorged a salmon, both being lifted out by the 

 keeper ; only I think the pike and salmon together 

 weighed over thirty pounds, my glutton and his prey 

 weighed perhaps an ounce. 



Bullheads may be caught with light tackle, using a 

 small hook baited with a tiny worm. 



The Loach is another small fish sometimes used for 

 bait. I liave never caught one, so cannot give practical 

 instructions in the art of loach-fishing ; but the angler 

 might perhaps consult " Lorna Doone " if he wish to 

 become proficient in the art. 



I am indebted to Mr. F. Wilkinson, a fellow- 

 member of the Piscatorial Society, for the information 

 that follows. He is an amateur taxidermist, having 



