Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/114

100 but remains adhering to the skin, and is with difficulty separated.

We can add our testimony to that of Mr. Yarrell, with respect to the excellency of this fish, when cooked as he prescribes.

The Sea-bream, or Gilt-head, as it is likewise called, is taken all around the shores of England, but is much more common in the British Channel than either on the east or west coast, and to the Scottish fishermen it is scarcely known. In the London market it is by no means uncommon, in the summer and autumn months. During the prevalence of frosty weather it retreats into deep water, where, as Mr. Yarrell informs us, on the authority of Mr. Couch, it deposits its spawn at the commencement of winter. The young fry, which go by the name of Chads, are about an inch in length in January; by the middle of summer they are five or six inches long, and attain half their full size, or about nine inches, by the end of their first year. The fry of half a year old congregate in immense numbers around the shores in summer, and are caught by anglers with the utmost ease in harbours and from the rocks, since they bite eagerly at any bait. Their food, both in the young and the adult state, comprises both animal and vegetable substances: Mr.