GRAYLING. 205 



Stockbridge. There were, four years ago, 

 many in the river just below; but this year 

 there are very few there, and the great pro- 

 portion that remains is found below Hough- 

 ton. I ought to mention, that the water is 

 particularly fitted for them, and they become 

 larger in this river than in their native place, 

 the Avon, — some of them weighing between 

 3 and 4- lbs. The trout, in all its habits of 

 migration, runs upward, seeking the fresh and 

 cool waters of mountain sources to spawn in : 

 the grayling, I believe, has never the same 

 habit of running up stream ; I never saw one 

 leaping at a fall, where trout are so often 

 seen. Their large back fin seems intended 

 to enable them to rise and sink rapidly in 

 deep pools ; and the slender nature of the 

 body, towards the tail, renders them much 

 more unfit for leaping cataracts than trout 

 and salmon. The temperature of the water, 

 and its character as to still and stream seem 

 of more importance than clearness; for I 

 have seen grayling taken in streams that are 

 almost constantly turbid, — as in the Inn 

 and the Salza in the Tyrol. This fish ap- 

 pears to require food of a particular kind. 



