68 TROUT AND GRAYLING. 
who does not take great care to keep himself out of the line 
of the fishes’ vision. They are also able to detect the very slightest 
difference in the colour of a floating fly, and, when there are many 
sorts of flies upon the water, they usually select one sort only for 
their meal, and do not take the least notice of any of the others, 
although to anyone standing on the bank and watching there is 
no apparent difference in shape or colour. It is an extremely 
pretty and interesting sight to watch a trout feeding on the very 
small flies that fishermen call smuts. He lies with his nose about 
half-an-inch under the surface of the water watching the little flies 
float over him, and every now and then he gently lifts his head and 
takes one into his mouth. making only the very smallest ripple on 
the water in doing it. Although all these little flies look exactly 
alike, he only takes about one in five ; and if you catch a few and 
examine them, you will find that there are very slight differences 
in their colour, and that he takes every one of a particular sort 
that passes over him. Of course, when they are taking the larger 
flies they are not always so particular, and sometimes will 
take all they can see. The gravling takes his flies in quite a 
different way from the trout, and requires almost keener eyesight ; 
for he always lies pretty close to the bottom of the water, and often 
where it is three or four feet deep, and as the fly passes over him 
he rises quickly to the surface, takes it in, and as quickly resumes 
his old position at the bottom. 
The weight attained by trout varies a good deal in different parts 0. 
the country. The largest are the Sa/mo ferox, or great lake trout, 
which have been recorded up to 4o or 50 lbs. in weight, and are 
usually caught with a large minnow, or even with a good sized 
trout as bait. From this weight trout are caught of all sizes, 
down to the little burn trout in Devonshire and Scotland, which 
seldom attain a greater weight than two or three ounces. 
Grayling do not grow to so great a size as trout, but in some of 
the slow running chalk streams in the South of England, such as ~ 
the Test, they are frequently found up to 3 Ibs. in weight; in 
this immediate district a grayling of ? lb. is looked on as a good 
sized fish, while the lucky angler who gets one weighing a pound 
talks about it for some time. 
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