FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



59 



THE MICHIGAN GRAYLING. 



BY HERSCHEL WHITAKER. 



The grayling {Thymalliis tricolor) is found native to the waters 

 of Michigan alone of all the States of the Union. Vague 

 rumors from time to time have hinted at its presence in other 

 waters, but the authenticity of such statements has never been 

 verified. A few facts concerning the distribution of the gray- 

 ling of Michigan, its habits and the experiments that have been 

 made here looking to its artificial propagation, may not be de- 

 void of interest to this Society. 



The waters of Michigan in which it has its habitat, may be 

 generally described as within the territory bounded on the south 

 by 43:30. extending as far north as 45:3°- The streams included 

 within this territory discharge their -waters into Lake Huron 

 and Lake Michigan. An imaginary line drawn from the mouth 

 of the Muskegon on the western . border of the State to the 

 mouth of the Au Sable on the east, will perhaps better indicate 

 the southern limit of the grayling. The waters most famous as 

 grayling streams, owing to their magnitude, accessibility and 

 their popularity with sportsmen, are the Au Sable and the 

 Manistee. The Hersey, the Pere Marquette, the Maple, the 

 Pigeon, with their tributaries, and numerous other streams of 

 less importance included within the boundaries already men- 

 tioned, are also fairly stocked with this fish. The Boardman, 

 the Boyne and the Jordan were once famous resorts for sports- 

 men who angled for the grayling, but their glory as grayling 

 streams has long since departed, the grayling having given way 

 to the predacious and combative trout, yet now and then an 

 occasional grayling is taken. 



Although the subject has often been discussed by writers upon 

 game fishes, allow me briefly to refer to the general character 

 of this fish. To the sportsman who has always angled for trout 

 and is unfamiliar with the habits of grayling, this fish will excite 

 some surprise upon first acquaintance. Unlike the trout you 

 are not likely to find him in pool and shady haunt, but on the 

 swift ripple and shallow, hovering like the hawk in air. While 



