THE POWAN, POLLAN, VENDACE, AND GRAYLING 287 
The grayling is not gregarious like the Coregoni and 
smelts, to both of which genera it bears a family likeness ; 
but, like the trout, finds all company inferior to 
its own. Its geographical range corresponds pretty 
closely with that of the brown trout, but it is far less generally 
distributed, and it is not indigenous to the north of England, 
Scotland, or Ireland. However, within the last forty years 
or so it has been introduced to many waters where it was un- 
known, and has become thoroughly established and numerous 
in the Clyde and Tweed, the Eden, and elsewhere. The 
expediency of this has been sharply questioned by salmon 
and trout ,fishers ; and in truth it can scarcely be doubted 
that grayling, being at their period of greatest activity when 
salmon and trout are spawning, devour large quantities of 
the ova of these fish. Personally, I should be most strongly 
averse from bringing them into any salmon-river where they 
did not exist already, or to any stream where the trout are 
worth consideration. The chief, perhaps the only, superiority 
of grayling over trout from the sportsman’s point of view is 
that they are in finest condition and rise most freely to the 
fly just at the season when trout are unfit to be taken. Let 
him, therefore, who hath two trout streams unconnected with 
each other, stock that which contains the less excellent trout 
with grayling ; so shall he have fine fare all the year through, 
and good fishing whenever water and weather agree. But the 
man of one trout stream will do best to leave well alone. 
The artificial flies for grayling are of the same character 
as those for trout. To learn the refinement which has been 
applied to these of late years, and especially the supreme craft 
of presenting them “dry,” there is abundant literature wherein 
Distribution, 
Indocti discant et ament meminisse periti. 
In my opinion small grayling furnish a more toothsome repast 
than any trout except the choicest, and these also should be 
small. 
