178 The Grayling. 



" Piscator. Yes, and hear, and smell 

 too, both then and in the daytime." 



I have heard anglers doubt if fish have 

 much if any sense of smell ; but Walton 

 was undoubtedly right, as any angler 

 who is not careful to use fresh and 

 sweet baits and ground-baits will dis- 

 cover. Chapter VI., a short one, is entitled 

 " Observations of the Umber or Grayling 

 \ and directions how to fish for them." It 

 I shows Walton was well acquainted with 

 / the habits of this fish, which is, he says, 

 ( " very pleasant and jolly after mid- April," 

 j but " not to me so good to eat or to 

 Bangle for " as the trout. Walton mentions 

 that "he has been taken with a fly made 

 of the red feathers of a Parakita " ; in 

 our day the "Red Tag" has slain its 

 thousands of grayling, so it would seem 

 a red colour has some special attraction 

 for this fish, which is scented as of water- 

 thyme, and the pupils of whose eyes are 

 pear-shaped. 



By the way, Walton's mention of Hamp- 

 shire brooks reminds me that in the verses 

 entitled " The Angler's Wish,' 3 which he 

 tells Venator he made "when I sate last 

 on this Primrose-bank," occur the lines, 



Or, with my Bryan, and a book, 

 Loyter long days near Shawford-brook.' 



