FISH-NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 447 
A double Flounder* (Pleuronectes flesus), about 53 in. in 
length, was brought to me on Sept. Ist. Both sides were of a 
dusky brown colour, and the “‘ travelling eye” remained at the 
edge of the fish in a notch, which gave it the advantage of seeing 
on either side, did it progress in a vertical position. 
By reference to my notes in ‘ The Zoologist’ of 1907, p. 463, 
it will be seen that, while Breydon and the adjacent waterways 
literally teemed with ‘‘ herring-syle”’ during the month of August, 
Terns in unusual numbers came and remained with us for a con- 
siderable period. The water seemed alive with these young 
Herrings, and thousands were left stranded at each ebb-tide on 
the flats, entangled amongst the Zostera, to the huge delight of 
flocks of Black-headed Gulls, which eagerly snapped them up, 
making prodigious noise as they hovered and dropped and 
quarrelled for possession. From some unknown cause there was 
as remarkable an absence of ‘‘syle” during the unhappy sum- 
mer of 1908, and all the Terns (including the Arctic, Common, 
and Little Tern) were also conspicuously absent—a matter of 
cause and effect apparent to the least intelligent. I might add 
that early in September these birds passed over Breydon in con- 
siderable numbers on migration. Strangely enough, the ‘‘ syle” 
was abundant at Wells-next-the-Sea and in the neighbourhood 
of the Wash, where, I believe, the Terns remained unusually 
late. The presence of these luscious little fishes attracted enor- 
mous numbers of Mackerel into the neighbourhood of Wells, to 
the great temporary profit of the fishermen. 
The Sead (Trachurus trachurus), or Horse-Mackerel, has been 
somewhat commonly met with during the course of the autumnal 
Herring fishery. No one troubles to eat the fish in this neigh- 
bourhood, and it is either cast overboard when the nets are 
‘‘ cleaned,” or is thrown on the refuse-heap if found in the catch 
when in port. 
A rather unexpected catch in the shape of a Salmon-Trout 
was made by an angler from the Britannia Pier on Oct. 28th. 
The fish, which took a lugworm as bait, weighed 33 lb. A smaller 
one was also taken on the same date. , 
Some time during the last week in October, when cleaning 
some Herrings, a labouring man discovered one of them to be 
* Cf. * Zoologist,’ 1908, p. 353. 
