888 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



streams. It locates in the Test, in both the Avons, in 

 Hampshire and Wiltshire ; in the Dove, the Lug, the Wye, 

 and the Irvon, Herefordshire ; the Teme, and the Clun, 

 Shropshire ; the Hodder, the Dove, the Trent, and the Wye, 

 Staifordshire ; the Dove, Derbyshire ; the Dee, Merioneth- 

 shire ; the Ribble, Lancashire ; the Ure, the Wharf e, and the 

 Wiske, Yorkshire ; and has been occasionally taken in the 

 Eden, and the Esk, Cumberland. This fish thrives best in 

 rivers with gravelly and rocky bottoms, and requires an 

 alternation of stream and pool. 



The grayling has been known to live in ponds, and even 

 to thrive in them. The spawning season is in April, or the 

 beginning of May, differing in this respect from all the other 

 salmonidce, almost all of which spawn towards the end of the 

 year, and generally in cold weather. It is, however, always 

 in its best condition in October and November, at which 

 time trout are out of season. The general length of the 

 grayling is from ten inches to a foot, although it frequently 

 grows much longer. Specimens have been caught in the 

 Avon sixteen inches long, weighing four pounds ; and one 

 was killed in the Test, near Shrewsbury; which weighed five 

 pounds. 



This fish feeds much at the bottom on the larvae of the dra- 

 gon-fly, and ephemera, and small shells of the genera Physce 

 and Neritina fiuvistilis. Imitations of the first two of these 

 have been very successfully used by anglers. They will 

 take all the flies that trout are fond of; they rise bolder 

 than the trout, and if missed several times, will still pursue ; 

 yet, notwithstanding 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 

 hooked, the hold will frequently be broken. In September 

 they retire in shoals to the lower end of still holes, just 



