280 WHEN GRAYLING AEE IN SEASON. 



Though some fancy they emit a smell of thyme, I 

 think they do not. They smell rather of cucumber 

 than of any other vegetable. Mr. Elaine says, 

 'The name of umbra which this fish bears has a 

 far better derivation than that of tkymaUus, for it 

 is so swift a swimmer as to disappear like a passing 

 shadow. Graylings are in great esteem, and their 

 flesh is white and palatable nearly all the year. 

 They are in season from September to January 

 (some say they are best in October, others in 

 December), and they cannot be dressed too soon 

 after they are caught. They lurk close all the 

 winter, and begin to be very active and to spawn 

 in April, or early in May ; at which time, and 

 during the summer, near the sides and at the tails 

 of sharp streams, they will take all the flies that 

 trout are fond of. They rise better than the 

 trout, and if missed several times, will still pur- 

 sue ; yet, although they are so sportive after the 

 fly, they are an inanimate fish when hooked, and 

 the sides of the mouth are so very tender, that 

 ^unless nicely treated, when struck, the hold will 

 frequently be broken. In September they retire 

 in shoals to the lower end of still holes.' 



I have lately received a very good account of 

 the grayling from Mr. Henry George of Worcester, 

 the very efficient secretary of an association es- 

 tablished in that city for the preservation of the 

 fish of the Severn and its' tributaries ; and I here 



