FISHES 513 



water in Cumberland, and, I believe, in Ulswater.' He describes 

 the Charr as making up the Brathay from Windermere ' in large 

 shoals in the first sharp weather in November, for the purpose 

 of spawning, preferring that river to the Kothay, probably 

 owing to the bottom being rocky and resembling more the 

 bottom of the lake ; and it is singular that those fish which 

 ascend the Rothay invariably return and spawn in the Brathay ; 

 they remain in the stream and in the shallow parts of the lake 

 until the end of March. . . . Great quantities are caught during 

 the spawning time by the netters for potting, and some are sent 

 up fresh for the London market; but only those who have 

 eaten Charr in summer on the spot, when they are in season, 

 can tell how superior they are to those eaten in London in the 

 winter. About the beginning of April, when the warm weather 

 comes in, they retire into the deep parts of the lake, where 

 their principal food is the minnow (Cyprinus phoxinus, L.), of 

 which they are very fond. At this time they are generally 

 angled for by spinning a minnow, but in a general way the 

 sport is indifferent, and the persevering angler is well rewarded 

 if he succeed in killing two brace a day. A more successful 

 method of taking them is by fastening a long and heavily-leaded 

 line and hook baited with a minnow to the stern of a boat, which 

 is slowly and silently rowed along ; in this way they are taken 

 during the early summer months, but when the hot weather 

 comes in they are seldom seen. They feed, probably, at night ; 

 and although they never leave the lake except during the period 

 of spawning, nothing is more uncommon than taking a Charr 

 in July and August.' 1 Some remarks about the Charr of Enner- 

 dale Lake appeared in the same journal a few years later. 2 



The Eev. T. P. Hartley, who is intimately acquainted with 

 Windermere, tells me that the natives of the district catch Charr 

 either in nets or with plumb lines. Their season extends from 

 the beginning of March until the end of September. Charr 

 appear to swim near the bottom of the lake in cold weather, 

 and are therefore fished with ' bottom nets.' In hot weather 

 the shoals of Charr swim near the surface, and are captured in 



i Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 316. 

 2 lb. cit. vol. viii. p. 231. 

 2 K 



