THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 431 



of which are otherwise suitable. Such a pond, of an acre or 

 so in extent, exists to my knowledge within a few miles of 

 Ludlow. It is fed by a fine spring, and the grayling which were 

 put into it, I have been assured, both thrive and fatten won- 

 derfully. Unfortunately a reference to my notes does not enable 

 me to say whether they also breed. As a rule it has been 

 found by experiment that even in ponds where they will live 

 such as those, for instance, newly cut in hard soil or which 

 have been recently and thoroughly cleaned they do not breed. 



Of the counties producing these fish, probably Herefordshire 

 and Shropshire contain the best, as they certainly contain the 

 most celebrated streams ; the former includes the Teme,Lugg, 

 Wye, and Arrow, and the latter the Clun and the Teme, dis- 

 tinguished as the head-quarters of the well-known Leintwar- 

 dine Club. 



In Hampshire and Wiltshire, the grayling is found in the 

 Test, Wharf, and in both the Avons ; in Staffordshire, in the 

 Hodder, Trent, Dove, Blythe, and Wye ; in Derbyshire, in the 

 Dove ; and in Merionethshire, in the Dee, between Curleen and 

 Bala ; in Lancashire, in the Ribble ; Yorkshire, in the Der- 

 went, Yore, Wharfe, Rye, Swale, Costa, and Dove ; Berkshire, 

 in the Kennet ; Scotland, Clyde and (perhaps) Annan. 



' Grayling,' observes Mr. H. R. Francis, ' are oddly distri- 

 ' buted in the British Isles. I know of few in Scotland or 

 ' Ireland, while in England the streams haunted by them seem 

 1 capriciously distributed in groups according to no traceable rule. 

 1 Yorkshire has many, chiefly to the north and east ; Derbyshire 

 ' many ; Lancashire, as far as I know, only the Ribble. South- 

 ' ward, after an extensive hiatus, we have the grayling streams 

 ' of Shropshire, and Herefordshire, and again not a few in the 

 ' south of South Wales. There are good grayling in several of 

 1 the principal Hampshire streams, and I think I have heard of 

 ' a few in Wiltshire, but in the centre and south-east of England 

 1 they are not to be found.' 



Of the above grayling waters by far the finest streams are 

 the Dove, the Lugg, the Test and the Teme. The last-named 



V V 3 



