A HISTORY OF NORFOLK Mr. Gurney thinks these could not have been Salmo trutta, 'as no sea trout could ascend the river higher than the New Mills at Norwich.' Mr. Dowell observes that the salmon trout remains on our coasts at all times of the year, but he has never seen it with roe. In the U Estrange Household Book. ' Item. — Paid for a samon trout, x*"
- io8. Brown Trout. Salmo fario, Linn.
Narborough, Castleacre, etc. Bure and Yare. — Lubbock. Mr. Gurney thinks the supposed ' salmon ' from Cossey and Swanton, mentioned in Lubbock's Fauna, were of this species, also the Lyng specimen recorded by Mr. Steven- son, and he adds : ' It is remarkable that this fish, though abundant in the Wensum, is not a native of the Upper Yare, and an attempt to introduce them artificially by hatching ova in the Yare appears to have failed. In the Tudd, a small stream intermediate between the Upper Wensum and Upper Yare, trout are found and grow large, but are said to be descended from some artificially introduced from thirty to forty years ago. If trout exist in the Yare, as stated by Lubbock, I believe it is only in the lower stream, after it has been joined by the Wensum.' — J. H. G. Sir T. Browne mentions ' the trutta, or trout, and the gammarus, or crawfish, but scarce in our rivers ; but frequently taken in the Bure or north river, and in the several branches thereof ; and he adds, ' very re- markable large crawfishes to be found in the river which runs by Castleacre and Nerford.' Query : Are they still to be found in that locality ? One caught at Fakenham Mills, July 26th, 1879, weighed 9 lb. 6f oz. — T. S. [Lake Trout. Sa/mo ferox, Jardine. Mr. J. J. Coleman, of Norwich, a few years since, hatched a number of the ova of this variety, and introduced them into the small streams near Eaton and Cossey. ' A few more,' he says, in a letter to Mr. Gurney, ' went to the Stoke (Holy Cross) river, and some to the stream between Kes- wick Mills and Lakenham. I gave some to Mr. Cozens Hardy, of Letheringsett, but I believe they were all eaten by ducks. In the Eaton stream there are scarcely any to be seen, though I have taken only about two fish out — one of them was undoubtedly a Lake trout, weighing three or four pounds.'] 212 [American Brook Trout, Sa/mo fon- tinalis, Mitchell. ' Mr. C. L. Buxton has placed a large number of these fish in a stream at Bolwick, and although at first they seemed to thrive, they have since disappeared. The Fish Acclimatization Society has hatched out and deposited a large number of various species of Salmonidas in the rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk, but I cannot learn that their efforts have, at present, been attended with much success.' — T. S. Mr. Day says : ' A "Conservator " writing from Shropshire to the Field, remarked that he considered it useless for turning into a running water, as it drops down stream, while it does not attain to the size of our brook trout, and in a lake will not rise well to the fly. He thought it as bad as pike in destroy- ing other fish, consequently he did not re- commend it, although it is excellent eating, and fights well when hooked.' 'In Norfolk it is said to grow twice as quickly as the brook trout' [British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 120).]
- I09. Grayling. Thymallus vexillifer, Linn.
Mr. Patterson writes, October, 1893 : 'A Mr. Pearson informs me that grayling having been introduced into the Wensum, near Fakenham, have become numerous and a complete nuisance, bullying the trout and monopolising their habitats.' no. Smelt. Osmerus eperlanus, h'mn. Very abundant in the shallow waters of the Estuary, and on the Burgh Flats, Yar- mouth, where they often attain a large size. Mr. Norman has measured some taken at the latter place, which were 1 1 ^ inches long, and weighed 7 oz. I have seen fish of exactly the same size and weight taken on the Ouse (Feb. 21st, 1874). These were full of roe. In 1867 I saw one which was a foot long, and which weighed only a quarter of a pound. The smelt fishery is much damaged by the practice of taking them in the rivers during the spawning season. Immense quan- tities are caught in what ought to be the close season, when they are watery and in- sipid. There ought to be a strict prohibition against taking them whilst in the rivers. In Sir T. Browne's list mention is made of ' spirinches, or smelt, in great quantity about Lynn ; but where they have also a small fish called a priame, answering in taste and shape to a smelt, and perhaps are but a younger sort thereof.'
