FISHES 515 



They come into the Bay in early autumn.' 1 Dr. Day was 

 correct in saying that 'in the Solway Firth the best fishing 

 season is in September/ but I doubt if he was accurate in 

 stating that the Sparling ' disappear the next month [October] 

 until March and April, when they ascend to spawn ; ' because 

 Sparling are fished during the winter months. Dr. Day re- 

 marks that Mr. W. Wankly of Grange ' was much struck with 

 the very rapid growth of the Sparling from October to March — 

 in October ten or twelve together weighed no more than 1 lb. ; 

 in March the fish were 4 oz. to 6 oz. each, and occasionally one 



or more in a take weighed close on 8 oz He opened 



a Sparling as soon as it was taken out of the net and found six, 

 seven, and eight herring fry . . . The Sparling are very un- 

 certain and apparently fickle in their visits to their supposed 

 haunts — i.e. in holes near rocks where fresh- water streams 

 mingle with tidal water.' 2 



GWYNIAD. 



Coregonus clupeoides, Lac6p. 



The existence of this fish in Ulleswater was well known in 

 the seventeenth century. Edmund Sandford, for example, 

 described this Lake as containing ' great store of some Chars, 

 Trout, and Scellies in abundance, a very good fish oth the bignes 

 of a heering.' 3 The Howard Household Books of 1622 include 

 an entry on * Janu : 5 ... To Mr. Mounsey's man bringing 

 charrs and skellyes ij s .' 4 It is extremely likely that the fish in 

 question had been netted in Haweswater (anciently spelt Hall's 

 water, i.e. 'the water of the Hall'). Clarke, a native of the 

 Ulleswater district (though he lived at Penrith latterly), was 

 well acquainted with the ' skelly ' of the Lake, beside which his 

 boyhood was spent. ' The shelly! says he, 'is remarkable for 

 this, no bait has ever been found which they will take. . . . 

 Like the herring, they assemble in vast numbers during the 



1 British Fishes, p. 332. 



2 British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 123. 



3 Sandford MS., p. 33. 



4 Household Boohs of Lord William Howard, p. 177. 



