GREY TROUT. 73 



northern portion of the island, but its distribution in other 

 parts is yet to be determined. 



The Grey Trout appears to be the Salmo mac.ulis cinereis 

 caudae extremo tequali of Artedi, page 23, sp. 2 ; and pro- 

 bably also, as quoted, the Graia Salmo cinereus seu griseus 

 of Willoughby and Ray, whose specific names have pre- 

 cedence of ertox. This fish sometimes attains the weight of 

 twenty pounds ; but it more commonly occurs under fifteen 

 pounds 1 weight. It ascends rivers for the purpose of spawn- 

 ing, in the same manner as the Salmon, but earlier in 

 the season ; and the fry are believed to go down to the 

 sea sooner than the fry of the Salmon. This species affords 

 good sport to anglers ; and, from its great muscularity, it is 

 a powerful fish when hooked, frequently leaping out of the 

 water. It is not, however, held in the same degree of es- 

 timation as food as the Salmon or Salmon Trout : the flesh, 

 even when the fish is in season, is paler in colour, yet its 

 quality as food may depend on the particular stream in which 

 the fish has been caught. Sir Walter Scott says, " There 

 is an old rhyme, which thus celebrates the places in Liddes- 

 dale, remarkable for game : 



' Billhope braes for bucks and raes, 



And Carit haugh for swine, 



, And Tanas for the good bull-trout, 



If he be ta'en in time.' 



The bucks and rocs, as well as the old swine, arc now ex- 

 tinct ; but the good Bull Trout is still famous." Notes (o 

 the Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto IV. 



The following are the notes of Lord Home on this fish : 

 " The Bull Trout has increased in numbers prodigiously 

 within these last forty years, and to that increase I attribute, 

 in a great measure, the decrease of Salmon Trout, which for- 

 merly abounded when I was a boy. It is now a rare thing 

 to sec a Salmon Trout or Whitling, for the Whitling in 



