130 WATERSIDE SKETCHES. 



terms it the choicest of all fish ; that the French, who vilify 

 the chub, term the grayling (or umber) un umble chevalier. 

 Without exactly endorsing the statement, Walton retails 

 with some unction the Frenchman's dictum -that the grayling 

 feeds on gold, and informs his readers that St. Ambrose, 

 "the glorious Bishop of Milan," calls him the flower of 

 fishes, and was so far in love with him that he would not 

 let him pass without the honour of a long discourse. 



Now the grayling, though not gorgeously marked, like 

 the trout, is, to my thinking, of more gracefully propor- 

 tioned shape, and not. by any means the chicken-hearted 

 brute described by Cotton. Like the trout, the grayling 

 takes much of his character from the stream he inhabits, 

 and we found the Wharfe grayling, though not large, 

 were of the most perfect symmetry, colour, and flavour. 

 When the grayling first leaves the water, nothing can be 

 more beautiful than the almost impalpable vestment of royal 

 purple which shines over his silver undermail, and .the long 

 distinct thin line running along the middle of his side, from his 

 bright lozenge-shaped eye to his purple tail. His tapered 

 snout and round, elegantly proportioned body, his white 

 belly, with a suspicion of gold along each side, the small 

 square dark spots about his sides, and the marking. of his 

 fins, increase the beauty of this high-bred looking fish. 



There is a dispute as to the smell of the grayling in the 

 first few moments of his capture, some arguing in favour of 

 thyme, and some saying the perfume is that of the cucumber. 

 The fish has been designated salmo thymallus in honour of 

 the thyme theory. Opinions upon this knotty point I think 

 will always differ. A fish taken from the Teme I once 

 thought had a decided smell of cucumber, another from the 



