152 GRAYLING. 



dark irregular spots on the sides ; the stomach is brilliantly white, with a fringe or lacing of 

 gold ; and the tail, pectoral, and ventral fins, are of a rich purplish tint. The dorsal fin is 

 very large — almost disproportlonally so — and is covered with scarlet spots and wavy lines, 

 upon a dark ground of reddish brown. The little velvet back fin, near the tail, is also dark 

 brown or purple, and the whole body is shot with violet, copper, and blue reflections, when 

 seen in different lights. Properly to appreciate this colouring, the fish should be laid hori- 

 zontally upon the hand, to be looked at, in which position its varied tinting is seen to the 

 greatest advantage." — [Angler N'aturalist, p. 357.) 



Grayling are taken like Trout with the artificial fly, but having tender mouths they often 

 break away, so that a light hand is very necessary, if you would be successful. Mr. Francis 

 says that "the most slaughtering way of fishing for Grayling is with the grasshopper. The 

 grasshopper, so called, is not a grasshopper at all, and though actually an artificial bait, in 

 no wise resembles a grasshopper ; why it should have been called a grasshopper, any more than 

 a gooseberry, which it much more resembles, I cannot conceive. No matter : this is the 

 grasshopper. Take a No. 5 or 6 Trout-hook ; lap round the shank some lead, enough to sink 

 it pretty quickly ; over this wind Berlin wool of various colours, chiefly green, with a few turns 

 of yellow or red, or both. The method in which this curious lure is employed at Leintwar- 

 dine, which is perhaps the head-quarters of it, and where I have killed many fine Grayling 

 with it, is as follows : — Having saved as long into the winter as possible, a good store of 

 gentles or maggots, you stick on the hook which protrudes from the green monstrosity, a 

 good bunch of gentles, six or seven perhaps. Then dropping the bait into the stream to be 

 fished, in order to see the depth, you fix, as if it was a float on the line, a bit of sliding 

 quill. This is simply used to let you know how deep your bait is down, and when it touches 

 the bottom ; without it you could form no idea. Then coming to the pool, stream, or eddy, 

 you cast in just clear of the heavy stream, letting the bait go to the bottom, and as soon 

 as it touches, jerking it up and letting drop again in short jumps, and drawing it hither and 

 thither while doing so, so as to search the entire water thoroughly, or all such parts of it as 

 are likely to hold fish. You strike at every touch, tap, or nibble, that you may feel ; and as 

 the tackle is strong and hook big, you do not lose many fish when once fairly hooked. It 

 is, indeed, a most destructive method, and kills all the largest and best fish ; and it ought 

 only to be tolerated when the Grayling get so far ahead as to want thinning down pretty freely, 

 as is the case oftentimes at Leintwardine. To give some idea of the deadly nature of this 

 bait on some streams, I have known instances where by the use of it large twenty-five or thirty 

 pounds' baskets have been filled and emptied three times over, in one day's fishing, by a 

 single rod. Its use is confined chiefly to the Worcester and Shropshire streams, — the tribu- 

 taries of the Severn in fact." — {Book on Angling, p. 295 — 296.) 



Unlike Trout, the Grayling never jumps out of the water, is unable to surmount obstructions 

 or stem very rapid torrents, and is more prone to descend than to ascend the stream. Grayling 

 rarely exceed three pounds in weight, though they are said to have been caught weighing 

 four or even five pounds. In this country these fish are non-migratory, being permanent 

 residents of fresh water all the year round ; but in colder latitudes, as in Scandinavia, the 

 Grayling is found in the North Sea, Cattegat, and Baltic, according to Nilsson ; in Lapland 

 they are taken in the high fell lakes, and are said to weigh as much as eight or nine pounds. 

 Some of the Swedish fish remain all the year in fresh water, and some are found in the 

 Baltic at all seasons. Sir H. Davy found that in this country Grayling will not live in brackish 

 water, but he allows that in many successive generations animals may be fitted to bear changes 

 which would have destroyed their progenitors. The northern species, the Salnio thynnallus of 

 Linnaeus and Bloch, the TItyniallus vulgaris of Nilsson, appears to be identical with our British 

 species. 



Grayling are said to grow rapidly, and to attain to the size of four or five inches in a 



