182 SALMONIA. 



pleased with my sport, that I shall become, 

 with St. Ambrose, a patron of the fish. 



Hal. — The habits of the grayling, like 

 those of most other fish, are very simple. 

 He is, I believe, to a certain extent, grega- 

 rious — more so than the trout, and less so 

 than the perch, and the usual varieties of 

 the carp species known in England. His 

 form and appearance you have seen. He is 

 as yet scarcely in his highest or most perfect 

 season, which is in the end of November or 

 beginning of December, when his back is 

 very dark, almost black, and his belly and 

 lower fins almost gold-coloured ; but his 

 brightness, like that of most other fishes, 

 depends a good deal upon the nature of the 

 water: and on the continent, I have seen 

 fishes far more brilliantly coloured than in 

 England — the lower part almost a bright 

 orange, and the back fin approaching the 

 colour of the damask rose, or rather of an 

 anemone. The grayling spawns in April, 

 and sometimes as late as the beginning of 

 May: the female is generally then followed 

 by two or three males. She deposits her 



