31 



THE GRAYLING. (SALMO THYMALLUS.) 



The flesh of the grayling is held in very high es- 

 timation for its superior delicacy and flavour. In 

 Switzerland, it is accounted the choicest of all 

 fish.* It is taken in some of the Italian rivers and 

 in France ; in the last of which, the Loire is ce- 

 lebrated for producing it in great perfection. In 

 some countries the grayling is so much admired, 

 that the lower orders are forbidden, under severe 

 penalties, to fish for them, they being reserved for 

 the tables of the great. England produces this fish 

 in some plenty, though still it must be classed among 

 the more local species f ; for, though they breed in the 

 same rivers with trout ; the majority of our streams 

 are without them. Grayling' are abundant in the 

 upper portion of the Severn in Montgomeryshire, 

 and in the streams that fall into it in North Wales. 



* There is a river called the Grand Eau Which falls into the 

 Rhone near Bex in the Valois. We have taken immense num- 

 bers of grayling just at the point where the two rivers unite. 

 There must have been some thousands congregated at that one 

 spot. We hooked large fish at every throw. It was in 

 August. Flies a light dun, and coch-y-bondy. This capital 

 spot is about eleven miles from Vevay on the lake of Geneva. 

 Pass the Castle of Chillon, Velleneuve, Roche; when near 

 Bex, turn off the high-road by a path leading through a 

 wood, and you will arrive at a fine open space of sand and 

 gravel, with the Grand Eau on your left and the mighty Rhone 

 in front : go to work directly ; it is a place worth the whole 

 journey from England. 



f The Avon, near Salisbury, and the rivers of Hants and 

 Derbyshire, are well stocked with grayling. 



